My Big Fat Vampire Wedding
by Cosmina Inspira
Summary: The sequel to HT Holiday Love Story, the wedding of Drac and Elona is planned to perfection. But things aren't all perfect such as with typical drama between families, disapproving future in-laws, the return of Elona's ex-boyfriend, mean and strict Lydia, and continuing Hunger issues. Romance and and some Suspense. Rating will change as story progresses.
1. Prologue

My Big Fat Vampire Wedding

By Cosmina Inspira

Disclaimer: The Hotel Transylvania movie franchise is the original property of Sony Pictures Animation, and Hotel Transylvania the Series is also the original property of Sony Pictures Animation and co-produced by Nelvana. No copyright infringement is intended nor authorized by the copyholders, and this writer only writes fan fiction for fun and entertainment. All original characters are the property of the fanfic author Cosmina Inspira.

* * *

Prologue

Christmas Eve, and he couldn't ask for a better one.

Things hadn't been easy since his discharge from the military; and even worse since his number one gal left him because he was such an idiot. But slowly, thanks to Ellie's dad, the dad he always wanted but never had growing up, and another gal to fill the void in his life, things were slowly looking up.

Ellie's dad, Stewart Parker, had helped Jason Spencer get a job as a mail sorter for the old federal credit union he had used to work for, and while the pay wasn't the best it was enough for a start to what he needed to get back on his feet. In time he would be earning employment benefits to go along with his benefits from the VA, and in the meantime his old buddies from high school, Ryan and Blake, were letting him crash at their inner city apartment until he found a new place for himself and his gal.

Of course it will still take some time to make things right and even get back together with his brave and wonderful gal, Ellie, as she left for Europe over a year ago and it may still be a while before she came back. It would be so much easier and sooner if that over barring broad of a sister of hers would just come clean about where Ellie was and even tell about who that son of a bitch Mr. Rich and Fancy player was who was making a move on his gal, the guy in black he saw with Ellie on internet videos.

Whoever that guy was, he should watch out as Jason Spencer will be coming for him to kick his ass and Ellie will be his again.

But for now, and as much as it ticked him off to admit to himself, he had to be patient and wait like Stew said.

Excitement was thick in the air as the moderate group of friends hung out and watched the intense football game on the big flat screen TV in the all too obvious bachelor pad decorated messily if appropriately for the holiday season, much of it football themed right down to a three foot plastic Christmas tree decorated in mostly sports themed ornaments but topped with a silver and gold angel.

Jason honestly couldn't think of a better way to spend Christmas Eve as all his buddies enjoyed beer and watched the game, the Chicago Bears vs. the New York Giants, and it was getting more intense with every passing minute as the Giants tried to catch up to the Bears winning streak. If there was a better way to spend Christmas Eve the only way he could think of was with his buddies, Ellie, and Stew all together to celebrate the game and then exchange early Christmas presents.

It was getting near half time; and before the show for whatever popular pop star was to start, the repeat play by play commentary played before the commercial which allowed Jason a chance to get some more snacks and another beer. As he gathered some miscellaneous snack foods for himself, he barely heard his phone buzz at him over the chattering of his friends and took it out before it could go to voicemail.

"'Lo?" he answered.

"Jason, pack up and get over to Transylvania now. Ellie's about to make a HUGE mistake."

"Oh, hey, Stew. What're you talking about, what kind of mistake?"

"I'll explain everything when you get here, just get packing and I'll transfer money to you for the next flight to Transylvania tomorrow."

"It's Christmas, Stew, I don't think there's any flights anywhere for a couple of days."

"I know, so be ready to leave first thing the day after Christmas then."

"Got it, but can you at least tell me what's going on, what's wrong with Ellie?"

Stew gave a frustrated sigh as he said quickly, "You know that so-called Count she's been with, let's just say he's a mental case and I'm worried about what he'll do to her."

Suspicion and jealousy began to rise within Jason as he said, "Got it, I'll be there as soon as I can."

The call ended and he could only fume with a growing hot jealousy as he headed to the guest room and started throwing a few essentials into a small makeshift bag. If he learned anything in the Marines, and he had learned a great deal, it was to be prepared for anything, to leave at any time, and pack lightly and only what was needed.

While he may not be in the Marines anymore, this mentality had become greatly ingrained into him.

His packing was done in just under three minutes as he heard one of his friends shout the game was coming back on and they didn't want him to miss the performance of the latest hot female pop star, yet Jason didn't really care about it anymore. But the thought of a sexy girl did remind him he had one last thing to take care of, something he had planned to do just as soon as he knew about where Ellie was located.

He found Sara, a young vivacious woman with a slim figure, buxom chest, and of exotic latino heritage, with the rest of his friends as she smiled excitedly and drank a cherry soda, enjoying the game as much as everyone else and her smile widened as she saw Jason came back.

"Hey, Jassey, how's my wonderful Christmas hero?" she said flirtatiously.

"Hey, Sara, can we talk real quick?"

She got up and took his hand a bit shakily as she lead him to a small piece of mistletoe hanging from above the kitchen as she said, "After another Christmas kiss."

He just shrugged and leaned down for a quick peck just to humor her, tasting the sweetness of the cherry flavored soda with a hint of alcohol as her drink might have been spiked, along with sugar cookies and fudge.

"How much have you had to drink?" he asked.

"This is just my second cup, but I think someone spiked it when I wasn't looking. And you call that a kiss? C'mere, and really lay it on me, hunkalicious!"

She pulled him in hard and really laid it into him as she sunk her tongue into his mouth for a sloppy wet one, making all of his friends watch and give whooping catcalls.

He finally pulled back from the kiss, and as hot at that was it just showed him Sara could be too over barring at times, which was something Ellie wasn't and it reminded him why he still loved her more.

"Okay, Sara, that's enough, you're embarrassing me," he tried to complain under his breath.

"Oh, who cares who's watching," she brushed off, "As long as we can get 'em a good show right." She came closer to whisper seductively into his ear, "Besides, it's just a sample of your Christmas present tomorrow."

Part of Jason was flattered, he even felt a hot horny arousal growing in his pants and felt a tingle go down his spine. But it quickly passed as he remembered Stewart's call from earlier and what he was really trying to do now.

"That's nice of you, Sara, but we really need to talk right now."

"'K, what do you want to talk about?"

He moved her away from the living room and into Ryan and Blake's office area, which was the apartment dinning room, and told her bluntly,

"You remember my ex-girlfriend, Ellie, the one I was living with?"

"Yeah, the bitch who cheated on you, good riddance," Sara spat out, and just embraced Jason close and rocked with him against her body as she said loyally, "I'd never do that to you, I'm yours all the way and forever."

"Well, I'm sorry, Sara, but I have to make it up to her. I finally found out where she is and I promised we'd get back together."

She didn't like the casual tone in his voice as he started to escort her to the door as she objected, "Wait, what? Why? You can't be serious, why'd you want to get back together with some slutty cheating bitch?!"

"I'm afraid you wouldn't understand," he said, brushing off her growing hurt and outrage as she tried to stop him from dragging her to the door.

"What wouldn't I understand?" she yelled, "She can't possible love you the way I do! You told me how she cheated on you and stuff! I'd never do that, I'm not sharing you!"

Jason just gave a sigh as he opened the door for her and said a bit coldly, "If it's not clear right now, Sara, let me make it clear; it was fun while it lasted but it's over now."

"What?!" she breathed through growing shock, "You're breaking up with me? You can't do that it's Christmas, and I love you!"

Tears welled up in her chocolate brown eyes as Jason just handed Sara her coat and purse as he said indifferently,

"And I hope you have a Merry Christmas. Good night."

He closed the door on her as she shouted with hurt anger, "You selfish jerk, how could you?! We have something good, she'll never give you what I can…!"

He just ignored the rest of her ranting as it was muffled a bit behind the door and the loud volume of the TV as the halftime show played on.

He opened another beer for himself as he sat down with the others as Ryan asked, "Hey, where'd Sara go?"

"She had to go, family stuff I think. And sorry guys, it's over between us."

"Damn," Blake shrugged, "It's too bad, too, and she was a fine one. I actually thought she was a keeper for you."

"Yeah, she's hot, but I also need a little bit of a challenge in my life, y'know, intellectually and in personality, and that's something Ellie had in spades."

"You still have feelings for your old girlfriend?" Ryan said, "Maybe she still does, too, and you two could work it out. Did you ever find out what happen to her, anyway?"

"Her old man just called me and she's in Transylvania." He took a sip of his beer as his friends laughed.

"No, seriously, man, are you pulling my leg? What would she be doing in a place like Transylvania, banging Dracula or the wolfman?"

Jason fumed jealousy as he gave his friend a hot look as his friends laughed at the joke, not knowing how on the nose it truly was, or at least half of it.

He then just smiled suspiciously and a bit coldly as a thought came to him.

"I don't know about that, but it might still be a cool place to check out. I'm leaving for Transylvania the day after tomorrow, and why not make it a guy's trip. What do you say, guys, wanna come with me?"

Blake and Ryan just looked at each other as the rest of their friends cheered at the resumed game.

"That would be cool," Ryan shrugged, "But what're we supposed to do when we get there?"

"Let's go down to the shooting range, and I'll tell you all about it as we make plans." Jason got a bit of a sinister look in his hazel eyes, making his friends just look at each other in growing concern.

* * *

At least three hours later the game ended and the rest of Jason's friends said good-bye and Merry Christmas as they left.

Before the three of them went to the shooting range for more fun, Jason took out an old metal box from under his bed, unlocked it, and took out his old military piece.

He looked it over a bit, feeling its weight in his hand, feeling the cool sleekness of the hard material and the power it gave him.

He twirled it a couple of times on his finger like a movie cowboy to finally methodically take it apart and place its pieces into well hidden areas of his packed bag.


	2. Family Meetings

Family Meetings

The moon's radiance peeked through the bare branches of leafless trees to shine upon the snowy mist covered forested path, a seemingly deserted road leading to nowhere, yet this was merely a deception to those who weren't truly looking and at one time known only for those who wished to remain hidden.

The land conjured unto itself a bleak isolation as having been untouched for centuries by the outside world, and somehow even blanketed in snow had a quiet serene beauty in its isolation surrounded by tall craggy snow covered mountains to offer protection or sanctuary from the dangers and troubles of the outside world. The wilderness surroundings of the land also seemed timeless, untouched and pristine, yet ominous as though inhabited by an unknown presence not of this world, haunted and ruled by dark entities.

It was enough for those of the faint of heart to lose themselves to primordial fear, to become lost in the darkness seemingly forever, the last of the lost souls only to be heard from them as a bloodcurdling scream of terror.

The road lead to a hidden mist filled open valley where mighty snow covered craggy mountain peaks surrounded a now frozen inland lake where it became a bridge to lead to a massive and tall Gothic castle jutting upon a single island within the inland lake, alone, isolated, untouched, and unknown to the unwanted sight of deplorable humankind.

And this is how a small black bat liked it as she flew towards the isolated Gothic castle, for surely nothing could change from this place as she heard a scream of terror from inside the castle.

Yet, she sensed something in it was off about the place now as she could smell an all too familiar scent which permeated the air and just made her even more suspicious.

* * *

Inside the Great Hall of Hotel Transylvania, elegantly if somehow still macabre, and simply decorated for the Holiday season, amongst a gathering of humans and Monsters a little girl gave off a high pitched shriek as she jumped up and down as she hugged tightly to her new present from Auntie Ellie, a Demented Debbie doll on the suggestion of Mavis.

Little Ally just looked so happy with her new toy as it suddenly came to life cackling maniacally in a disturbing if playful kind of way, though Elona gave an uncertain look.

"Are you sure about this, Mav?" Elona asked, "After what you've told me about your experience with this toy, is it really appropriate for a human child?"

"Don't worry, Elona," Mavis assured her, "This one is custom ordered, more delightful than demented, limited power batteries, and an on/off switch for quiet times. Trust me, it's perfect."

"If you say so," Elona said with a shrug.

"Hee, hee, hee! Hi, I'm Delightful Debbie!" the ghost doll giggled as she flew around Ally, making her smile, "We're gonna be bestest best friends, foreveeer and eveeer!"

Ally hugged her new doll tightly again as another brightly wrapped present was passed to her brother DJ by their Uncle Sean and he just literally tore into it with excited gusto to find a rather retro looking video game that made him scoff,

"Rainbow Doom? Sounds so lame."

"DJ," Liz scolded her son as she gave him the stern look, making him sink into himself a bit as she told him, "I thought I taught you better manners, now what do you say?"

"Thank you," he moaned.

"Trust me, it's a lot more fun than it sounds," Mavis said, "I played it with my Uncle Gene a few times, but I was so eager to finish it I got a cursed cheat code and it just brought the whole thing to life and everything went crazy. So don't knock it 'til you tried it."

"You mean it's interactive?" DJ perked up, "Cool! Now I can't wait to try it!"

Mavis just shook her head as Dracula said, "Oh, man, do I remember Uncle Gene telling me that story; my entire hotel turning into a giant video game with a crazy giant cupcake that could've taken over the underworld. Mavy, what were you thinking?"

"Hey, I was a kid, and besides my friends and I defeated the villain and finally won the game, so no biggie, right?"

Dracula gave his daughter a bit of the sink eye as he said dryly, "Sometimes I wonder if you still are."

"This from a guy who still pulls pranks on his friends and pulled elaborate schemes to keep his family together," Mavis bantered back to him.

"Hey, it worked out in the end, and it isn't like I can't handle you going away now."

"Only for a short time; and besides I know how much you wanted to come back here while at the Vampire World Council a few years ago."

"Yeah," Dracula sighed, "And from what I heard you and your crazy friends got into all sorts of trouble while I was away. I can't believe all the trouble you kids caused after I tried to make this hotel safe and orderly for you, Mavy."

"Hey, we always got out of it, and things worked out. Mostly."

Elona just smiled in amusement as she said, "Sounds like your family has the craziest times together. Besides, I'm curious, where is this Uncle Gene and when do we get to meet him? Or this Klau-sh I've heard about, or even Lydia? It's Christmas, or Creepmas if you want to call it that, and it's when family should be together."

"Well, uh…," Dracula could only moan, but Mavis jumped in,

"Uncle Gene should be here soon enough, I had the zombies go wake him up from his ten year long nap, though that might've been a bad call considering what they are. But he should be here sooner or later."

"I'd be surprised if he got here at all, considering the first thing he'd want to do is play more of whatever crazy game he's got," Vlad said dryly with a shrug, "Lucifer knows it's hard to tear him away from those things, rotting his brains even zombies wouldn't want to eat and I never got why he's into them anyway."

"That's because you always refused to try anything new or fun, little brother," a rather high raspy voice said happily, "Always trying to impress Dad with your strategies in battle and stuff, hardly taking any time to just relax and socialize and have some real fun, even as a kid. It's seems a miracle you ever settled down and had kids."

Everybody looked around trying to find where the voice was coming from to finally see a hunchbacked, extremely pale and elderly bald Vampire with heavily wrinkled grayish white skin, glowing white eyes like he could be blind, wearing a black robe, and sat in some kind of antique Gothic styled wheel chair like he had no legs.

He rolled into the Great Hall on his seat as though it were automatic, yet Elona was certain the ancient Vampire was controlling it with his will and this had to be Uncle Gene she had heard about as he clearly had the sharp if graceful Dracula facial features and friendlier and fun loving personality Dracula and Mavis had shown.

Mavis's eyes went wide and adorable as she saw her favorite elderly uncle finally make it to the Christmas family gathering.

"Hi, Uncle Gene," she cried happily as she practically flew into his arms for a hug.

"Hello, Little Mavy," he greeted her happily as he tried to stifle a yawn and hug her at the same time, "My goblins, look how much you've grown."

"Hello, Gene," Vlad greeted respectfully if dryly to his older brother.

"Nice to see you, too, Vlady Boy, how are those crazy giant bat friends of yours? As destructive as ever, I imagine, or not, it's not like they're good for anything else anyway, heh, heh, heh!"

Vlad just grunted low from his throat as Mavis told Gene excitedly, "C'mon, Uncle Gene, there's so many new and special people you have to meet."

Johnny walked up to Gene as he greeted happily, "Hey, Uncle G, how's it hangin'?"

"Yaah, human!" Gene shouted in fright as his arms flailed about crazily, looking around to see even more humans and yelling loudly, "MORE humans?! Mavis, run, how did humans get into the hotel?!"

He nearly grabbed his niece, but she easily evaded him with flexibility and supernatural speed as she tried to reason with him, "Uncle Gene, calm down, this is Johnny, my husband, remember?"

"Husband?!" Surprise and confusion colored his face.

"Yeah, don't you remember? We got married a few years ago, just before you went to sleep."

Gene gave this some thought as he searched his foggy memories, finally a minute later he seemed to recall the wedding as he said with an embarrassed smile, "Oh, yeah, it's coming back to me now. My memory isn't what it used to be, and I'm still a little groggy from waking up. (Yawn) How long was I asleep?"

"Only seven or eight years," Vlad said as he leaned on Gene's chair, "And don't take it personally, Gene, I didn't know about Mavis marrying a human or the whole 'humans liking monsters' thing 'til earlier this year when Mavis invited me to Denisovich's birthday party."

"Who's Denisovich?" Gene asked confused when a little red haired boy flew up to him in green mist.

"Hi, Uncle Gene, I'm Dennis," he said happily, eager to meet a new family member, "Or you can call me Denisovich, Papa Drac says it's my Vampire name."

"Oh, hello there, little fellow, where did you come from?" Gene asked with a friendly fang filled smile.

"This is our son, Dennis," Mavis introduced as she held her son and Johnny stood next to her and they all smiled.

"Oh, boy, I really have been asleep too long," Gene said as he scratched his bald head, "Or not long enough, from what you're all telling me now. Oh, well, I'm just glad to be here."

"C'mon, Uncle Gene, there's someone really special you need to meet," Mavis said with a wide fang filled smile as she lead him to her dad and Elona.

"Hey, Uncle Gene, Scary Creepmas," Dracula greeted with a polite smile, and while Dracula was glad to finally have his elderly uncle make it to the family gathering, all he wanted to do was kiss Elona under the missile-toe, certain to make sparks fly in more ways than one.

"I want you to meet someone very special to me; Elona Parker, my fiancé."

"Hello, Mr. Gene," Elona greeted with a polite smile.

"Fiance? Wow, am I glad I was woken up early," Gene laughed, "When did this happen?"

"Kinda just now," Elona shrugged with a bit of an embarrassed if happy smile as she stared up at Dracula and he wrapped a long wiry if muscular arm around her to hold her close and gave his own love struck smile.

"Okay, but how did this happen?" Gene questioned, "It's one thing that Mavis fell for a human boy, but you, Drac, it seems impossible. I mean, you're you."

"I thought so, too, once," Dracula just shrugged, "But here we are, Elona and I Zinged, so it's a long story."

"Ooh, I'd love to hear it." Gene gave a tooth fang filled smile, ready to hear it but Mavis was too excited as she intervened.

"C'mon, Uncle Gene, there's more people for you to meet."

She led him away to meet the other humans, beginning with Elona's older sister, Liz and her family.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Gene," Liz said as she shook his gnarled wrinkled hand, "I'm Liz, Elona's sister, and these are my kids, DJ and Ally, and this is my husband Daniel."

"Oh, nice to meet you, Liz, and if you're family now you can call me Uncle Gene."

"We're not quite family yet, but seeing we will be soon, okay, Uncle Gene it is."

Gene then noticed DJ's present and gave a wide toothy smile as he inquired enthusiastically, "Oh, neat, you got Rainbow Doom, little human?"

"Yeah, Aunt Mavis said it's interactive, but the name is so lame," DJ said.

"Oh, don't let the name fool you, little guy, it's a reeeally hard game, nearly impossible to beat. But that's half the fun, and with two players, twice the fun."

"Really? Will you play it with me and show me?"

"Sure, but just don't put in a cursed code to bring everything to life, or you'll get everybody eaten by the giant cupcake monster boss, Red Velvet."

DJ wasn't sure if Gene was kidding or not, but just rolled his eyes.

"A giant cupcake monster sounds funny," Ally said with a wide smile.

"Oh, yeah, just imagine the giant tea party to go with it," Delightful Debbie nearly squealed, "and the cookies and the finger sandwiches and the fruity turnovers and…ooh, I'm getting sooo hungry."

The ghost doll just started drooling as Ally dashed to the tables just to grab as much treats as she could for the both of them.

Gene also seemed to be in a drooling trance as Debbie mentioned all the delicious treats as he was snapped out of it by a new voice, "Uh, hello, Gene, I'm Stewart and this is my wife, Maggie."

"Huh, wha-?"Gene snapped out of his drooling trance, "Oh, hi, Stewart and Maggie, are you related to Johnny or Elona?"

"We're Elona's parents, and it's a pleasure to meet you," Maggie said as respectfully as possible, though she tried to keep a growing apprehension at bay so as not to freak out.

Something about this really elderly man just didn't sit right with her, like everything else about this whole place and the man her daughter had just become engaged to. Maggie just held to a small cross necklace beneath her shirt and quietly prayed.

"So how long have you lived here?" Stewart asked politely, trying to make small talk in this rather awkward moment, "You're okay with the show your nephew and his family put on?"

"It's nice to meet you, too," Gene said, "Though I don't know what you mean by show, but I've lived here since the hotel was built. I could've gone to live with Vladdy Boy in his cave, but having a colony of giant demonic bat monsters as roommates I would've gone positively batty in a week, heh, heh, heh! Get it?! Because they're giant bats and we're vamps?"

Gene laughed at his own corny joke while Stewart and Maggie just gave wide eyed confused looks but forced even more awkward laughs if not appear rude.

"Ah, never mind," Gene waved it off, "Even I know that one was bad, but what're you gonna do?"

"C'mon, Uncle Gene," Mavis said as she led him away, seeing how awkward her potential future in-laws were feeling, "Come get reacquainted with Johnny's family."

Being ever easygoing, Johnny invited for Gene to meet the rest of the extended human family; his parents, Mike and Linda Loughran; older siblings Brett, Kent, and Janet; and finally his nephews, Troy, Conner, and Parker.

"That explains where you got the crazy red hair, little Denisovich," Gene said, "I used to have red hair myself years ago, before it fell out, so enjoy it while it lasts, heh, heh, heh!"

"I always thought it was a toupee," Mavis whispered with a smile to Dennis, making him give a concealed giggle.

"So, Vlad didn't know about all this before the kid's birthday. C'mon, don't leave me in the dark, any longer, what's the story?"

Everybody looked at Mavis as she gave a deep sigh and told the story of what happened the past summer, with Dracula giving some details here and there, and finally Vlad giving his part of the story to teasing his son and great-grandson with his dentures and doing a shimmy with Dracula at the party, just bonding again and having fun with family.

"Ooh, boy, am I sorry I missed all the excitement," he happily yelled, "He really tried that Wussy Exorcism spell? Heh, heh, heh, that explains it, our dad used it on Vladdy Boy before he even turned five."

Vlad gave a low annoyed grunt to his brother.

"Really?" Johnny cried as he gave Vlad a wide eyed look, but it sank as Vlad gave him a cold stink eye.

"Sure, Jackie," Gene said.

"It's Johnny."

"Whatever, anyway, long story short, our dad was really big on tradition and stuff so much he wanted his kids to be born with their fangs. I was lucky, but Vladdy Boy here was only a year old when Dad used the Wussy Exorcism on him by possessing a cute little mouse or squirrel or something he loved, right, little bro?"

"It was a field shrew," Vlad grumbled grumpily.

"Oh, man, it really does run in the family," Johnny laughed.

"Don't push it, kid," Vlad warned coldly, making Johnny laugh more nervously.

Mavis gave a wide eyed look to her grandfather and just shook her head a bit in amusement and sympathy. Clearly, they needed to have a talk later.

Which was something a certain well meaning mother-in-law needed to have with Mavis at the moment.

"It's, uh, nice to meet you, Uncle Gene," Linda said politely with a bit of a crooked awkward smile, then asked Mavis, "Mavis, could I talk to you for a sec?"

Going to a private corner, Linda gave Mavis a bit of a confused look as she said, "Not that it's not nice to meet your uncle, Mavis, but I thought you said it was just you and your dad."

It only took a moment for Mavis to realize what she meant and just shrugged as she said, "Oh, I thought you meant anyone else who would be coming to Dennis's party at the time. I guess now I should've mentioned my cousin, Klaus, and my Aunt Lydia. But the truth is there isn't much to tell about my family, they're just overbearing and embarrassing, and Dad and I have always been so tight. Plus, I doubt they'd be okay with humans and monsters being together, especially my Aunt Lydia."

"Oh, so you do have cousins, and an aunt. It would have been nice to know about earlier, but I guess you had your reasons. Honey, I'm sure it can't be that bad," Linda tried to reassure with a bit of a laugh, "Everybody thinks their family is like that, I'm certain Johnny thinks the same thing about us, but we're always here for you guys, you know that."

"Yeah, I guess."

Mavis still had her misgivings about her side of the family, but she knew Linda always meant well.

"Okay, you've finally met Uncle Gene, Elona, my Puss Dumpling," Dracula said overly sweetly if sarcastically as he lead her out to the middle of the dance floor.

All Elona could do was roll her eyes in either annoyance or amusement with his ever over doting on her, she wasn't sure which and just said, "Not one of your best pet names, Drac, so don't over do it."

"Okay, no more 'Puss Dumpling', so how about Beloved Honeyfang?" He twirled her, making her moderate deep red dress flare gracefully, as he snapped his fingers and a spider suddenly lowered itself to hold what looked like mistletoe above them, making Elona giggle like little school girl.

"I've been wanting to do this all night. I'm so happy everyone could make it tonight for the holidays," he announced to the extended families, "I know this is still kinda freaky to some of you, but trust me you'll get used to it, I know I did. All I want to say is this is the best Creepmas/Christmas I could ask for; family, friends, and a future with a wonderful woman I Zinged with and never thought I could have again."

The gathered crowd gave some claps as some glasses filled with none alcoholic apple cider and/or eggnog were raised to the newly engaged couple.

"Happy Holidays, everyone," Dracula cheered as he brought Elona closer to his figure to embrace her.

Though she couldn't have been happier, Elona still couldn't help but feel like something or someone was missing.

All she could say was, "Not everybody is here, what about your sister?"

Dracula rolled his eyes as he said low to her, "Can we please stop talking about my sister. I think I see why you didn't want to have your parents here, but it's different with Lydia. You could say she's something of hot head. Now drop it and just kiss me already, okay, Miss Nosy Pants?"

Elona gave him a dirty if amused look, but then exclaimed as he suddenly dipped her and puckered for a kiss, making her giggle some more as she prepared for those cool delicious Vampire lips that always made her tingle with intensity.

She closed her eyes as hers and Dracula's lips were mere millimeters apart when a polished suit of armor ran up rapidly to them in loud clanks to report in an at attention salute,

"Sir! Sir! Sir! I must announce to you she has arrived!"

Dracula just gave an annoyed groan at the sudden interruption. Not this again.

"Who's arrived?" he asked with disinterest when a gust of wind suddenly blew so strongly throughout the Great Hall to nearly blow everything to the other side of the chamber, as though summoning something.

The doorway suddenly burst into flame, making some of the small gathering give yells of fright, while Dracula just straightened up and slumped over to just groan to himself, "Oh, no."

The burning doorway was so intense the wooden doors could have turned to ash instantly, but instead became a swirling miniature vortex of a firenado to bring forth a tall and willowy silhouette and finally vanish as though the fire never was.

A woman now stood in the doorway, her features and figure strikingly familiar with graceful if sharp characteristics like a long face with broad if sharp chin, a small hooked nose, and a casket shape face, a slender hourglass shaped figure and she had to be about as tall as Dracula, though her hair made her look taller. She wore a long elegant black gown with dark purple and violet trimming around her collar, with an equally long and elegant black cape with a high collar and dark purple inner trimming, while her hair was done up in a swirling purple and white beehive style and framed with black bat wings which may or may not have been part of her hair. Her pale face gave a deep sinister scowl with dark purple lips and pale bluish gray eyes beneath violet and purple eyeshadow, while she carried herself with a chilling if prestigious dignity while she carried some kind of black staff of authority with a dark violet orb at the top upon which sat a purple mottled white hen, which just seemed ridiculous.

"What is the meaning of this?!" she yelled, her voice raspy if still strong enough to carry and echo throughout the Great Hall.

"Ugh, and I thought my dad made overly dramatic entrances," Dracula grumbled to himself, making Elona look at him.

Vlad seemed to be the only one happy to see the new arrival as he glided up to her with arms spread for a hug and he greeted her happily,

"Lydia, my little sweet slime bug," he greeted with syrupy sweetness as he hugged her, surprising Lydia for only a moment as she awkwardly hugged him back.

"Hello, Father," she said politely, "I received your letter, though I admit what it said sounded too preposterous to believe. What exactly is going on here?"

"Exactly what my letter said, Lydia, my sweet ghoul," Vlad said as he took her by her padded shoulders deeper into the Great Hall, "Mavis got married, had a kid, humans like monsters now, and well, take a look for yourself."

Looking around the Great Hall, Lydia could only go wide eyed as she saw at least 20 humans among the many monsters, including her brother, she knew.

"This might explain the pungent smell I whiffed just outside," she said with a clear disgust, "I circled outside several times certain I was imagining things. It actually smells like an entire village of humans in here now, and it's repulsive, and not in a good way."

Everyone gave frowns or insulted looks at this, but Lydia didn't seem to care as she just glided as though she had no feet and eyed everyone with a cold aloofness to further criticize,

"Monsters and humans in the same place, it's beyond a travesty, an atrocity, an abomination, an insult to the very name of Monster integrity. How is this even possible? Who would allow such insolence to happen?"

"Ba-kaw, insolence," clucked the hen, Diane.

"I would," Dracula spoke up, glaring at his older sister as she looked wide eyed at him, "And I won't have you insulting how I run my hotel or my household."

Lydia just gave a wide eyed surprised look at Dracula's boldness, but her expression became a smirk as she laughed daintily,

"Well, hello, my dopey little brother, it's been a while."

"Hello, Lydia," Dracula groaned, "Not long enough for me."

"No, I suppose ten years isn't that long, but that's no excuse to not write or call or something. Seriously, you ask me to run this ridiculous monument to your dead wife without so much as a courteous thank you and you don't even keep in touch. Honestly, I'm insulted."

"What do you expect, an apology? Fine, thanks for looking after my hotel ten years ago, you happy? And if you really don't want to be here, you can leave, which is fine by me."

Vlad frowned at this as he scolded, "Drac, don't be rude, I invited her since you wouldn't, and I say she stays."

"Ugh, Daddy, can you believe his attitude? Disrespecting his older sister, since we were children."

"My attitude?! Who's the spoiled brat and Daddy's little girl who always wanted her way, and wanting my things? Even now, you wanted what's mine, taking my chambers while I wasn't here when there are perfectly good rooms all over the hotel."

"I did not always get my way!" Lydia yelled, "And is that what this is about, using your room? You were at the Vampire Council and you had the best chambers in this castle, and I need the best!"

Dracula actually growled deeply from his throat as his eyes began to glow a sharp red until Vlad came between them and yelled like the authoritative father he is,

"That's enough, you two, you're acting like a couple of 40 year olds, I expect better from my kids. Besides, this is supposed to be a family gathering for Creepmas."

"Pfft, please, Dad, she hates Creepmas almost as much as she hates humans."

"Actually, it's grown on me again since I learned why Krampus left me a rotten jingle bell instead of the present I wanted centuries ago," Lydia said dryly.

Dracula just frowned deeply to make his sharp handsome face seem even sharper as a growing thick awkwardness hung in the air and Lydia eyed him with an icy if arrogant stare.

"So Krampus is like the Santa Claus for the monsters?" Elona asked with a smile, hoping to relieve the awkward coldness, "Figures. He leaves something shiny for naughty monsters while Santa leaves coal for naughty human kids."

"Actually being naughty is the opposite for us, My Love."

"Who is this?" Lydia demanded with a hiss, finally noticing the human next to Dracula.

Elona tried to give a polite smile, but it became crooked with nervousness as Lydia sniffed at her like a suspicious dog sniffing an unknown stranger with even more suspicious intent, making Elona uncomfortable.

Seeing this Dracula pushed Lydia away as he introduced her, "This is my fiancé, Elona Parker. Elona, this is my older sister, the Dark Baroness Lydia Dracula."

"It's nice to finally meet you, Lydia, I've heard a bit about you," Elona said as politely as she could as she held out a hand for Lydia, but the Vampiress just eyed it with an indifferent frown.

"How nice for you, where as I hear nothing about humans taking over Hotel Transylvania and invading its sanctum. If I were still in charge I would have consumed the first human who dared set foot in here."

"No, you wouldn't, Aunt Lydia," Mavis finally spoke up as she stepped out from the small crowd to face her strict aunt face on, giving Lydia a brave glare in the eye.

Lydia went a bit wide eyed as she eyed her now older niece, her face dropping to its usual cold glare as she eyed Mavis, her expression slowly softened to a cold smile as she greeted,

"Hello, Mavis, and what exactly do you mean I wouldn't have eaten the first human who dared step into the hotel?"

"Because I would've hated you for the rest of eternity for eating Johnny," she declared boldly, and held out her hand as Johnny and Dennis stepped forward to take it and stood beside her.

Johnny had been starring in awe at the arrival of Aunt Lydia, though he felt a deep chill from her since she arrived minutes ago and couldn't help but think she meant what she said. Bravery and reassurance grew within him as Mavis stood up to the ice cold Baroness as he took his Vampire wife's hand and smiled at her as she said,

"We Zinged, Aunt Lydia, you remember what that is, right? Dad may have hated humans almost as much as you do, but it took Johnny to show him, and to show me that they're not all bad, and deep down Monsters and humans aren't all that different. Ever since then I've learned there's so much more to the world, and Johnny's shown me so much and given me more than I ever thought I wanted."

"You Zinged? With a _human_?!" Lydia gasped in growing shock and outrage, "Impossible! Unacceptable! How could this happen?! Everybody knows humans and monsters shouldn't interact, it upsets the natural order of things, and you know how I feel about order!"

"It just did," Mavis said with a bit of a shrug, "And I've never been happier."

"I thought the same thing once, too, Lydia," Dracula said as he gently and lovingly grasp Elona's hand, "But things have changed, and you have to accept that, even if you don't like it."

Lydia looked to Vlad with a growing frustrated outrage as she raged to him, "Father, you of all Vampires know this is unnatural and an outrage. Talk some sense into them!"

Vlad just shook his head in pity as he told Lydia, "I did, and I tried, just like you are now, Lydia. But it took a lot for me to realize my family is far more important than our most ancient traditions, and those traditions are because of family. So I suggest you be on your best behavior right now because it's Creepmas, a time to be with family. Or like Drac said, if you don't want to be here you can leave."

Lydia just went wide eyed at her father as he gave her his own glacier icy cold look which actually sent a chill down the Dark Baroness's spine and could have made frost and icicles form throughout the Great Hall and even made a few of their human in-laws shiver and try to wrap themselves to keep warm.

Lydia seemed to back down an iota as she gave a soft scoff and frowned again. She would have flown out the door as a literal shadow at that moment, but was stopped in a half a second when Mavis offered and pleaded to her,

"I know this isn't what you expected, Aunt Lydia, but please stay. Stay and get to know the rest of the family, get to know your great-nephew. I know you don't really want to be alone on the holiday season. Think of it as a way to make up for not being invited to my wedding or any birthdays. This is a chance for new beginnings."

Lydia could only look conflicted, as though she knew Mavis was right. She only gave a small softened if still cold smile as she said,

"My, my, Mavis, you have grown up. Fine I'll stay, but not because you think I don't want to be alone on the holidays, which I'm fine with, but because you and Father insist and it's rude to leave so soon. And I'll watch this hot mess you've got going on here."

Mavis rolled her eyes at her aunt's dismissive insult, but was just glad she chose to stay.

Elona then offered with a polite smile, "I'm glad you're staying, Lydia. Would you like to join me and Drac for some Christmas coffee?"

Lydia just gave a low growl in the back of her throat as she sneered with a slight hiss, "Christmas. The very word leaves a… _ack_ … _gagh_ …a vile taste in my mouth. Be serious, Vampires and your little holiday for some pathetic magic baby don't mix."

Elona actually felt a bit insulted, though not for the reasons some people would think, but she wouldn't let it deter her from trying to getting to know Lydia.

"Okay, Creepmas coffee. Truth be told, they've become the same thing to me and I've been using them interchangeably."

Lydia just sneered again as she gave Elona a cold sink eye.

"It's alright, Elona," Dracula said reassuringly as he wrapped a long arm around her, "If she doesn't want to, it's fine. I certainly wouldn't want her to get heated about it."

Lydia glared at Dracula as she warned coldly, "Be careful, Brother, you know how your mouth can get away from you. Besides, I can't believe you've stooped to this, I thought you'd out grown this childish nonsense."

Dracula gave his own hot glare as Elona gave him a confused looked.

Lydia smirked at this as she said, "Don't you know, human? You're not the first; he's had his fun with human women before, even men on occasion. So I doubt you're really so special to him as he's made you think."

Elona gave a look at Dracula and he seemed to break into a light sweat while also visibly trying to keep his cool as he glared stone faced at Lydia.

Elona could sense, somehow psychically as well as physically from him, he was trying to keep his temper under control over the insult. She took a moment to think about what Lydia might be referring to and just inquired,

"Are you talking about Mina and Lucy?"

Lydia's eyes narrowed a bit as she simply said, "There were others, long before those humans."

Elona just gave a soft laugh as she said, "I know all about that stuff, and it doesn't matter to me because Drac told me all about it. I know that isn't him anymore and it's all in the past."

This seemed to momentarily surprise Lydia as Dracula and Elona just gave loving smiles to each other and Elona continued, "His honesty is one of the reasons I love him, despite his flaws."

"It's because of you I try to be better from my flaws, my Darling Night Star," he said cutely to her with a sweet smile, making her giggle low.

"Ugh," Lydia groaned in reserved disgust, "If this gets any more saccharine I think my fangs will fall out."

Elona gave Lydia a dirty look, but then just laughed a bit as she said, "I guess that's not untrue, you're funny, Lydia."

She just gave Elona a cold stare with clear insult, making Elona loose her smile.

Lydia just sneered deeper as she stared Dracula in the eye to say critically, "This is what you've sunk to, brother? Allowing humans into your hotel and even pairing off with one? This is the example you set for your impressionable daughter after what they've done to your wife? So hypocritical."

Dracula gave his own low growl as Mavis spoke up again, "No, Aunt Lydia, haven't you been listening? Johnny and I Zinged, and it's because of that things are the way they are now. He did it for me, for all of us. And besides, like you said I'm not a kid anymore."

"And I've finally moved on, I had to let go of the past," Dracula said, "It wasn't easy, and I did stupid things just keep Mavy and my family with me. But I had to put their needs before mine, and I finally realize I'll never really be alone as long as I know we care for each other. I'll always remember and love Martha, but I now know she would've wanted me to be happy. I've found it with Elona, and I would think you'd be happy for me, too, Lydia."

Lydia eyed Elona again and smirked as she said, "Hm, I think I see why, she does look an awful lot like Martha. You may not have moved on as much as you claim."

Elona felt a bit of a cringe in her stomach as she said with a controlled voice, "I'm aware of that, but Drac and I have worked through it. He loves me for me, and not because I look like Martha."

Dracula brought her closer to himself as he smiled with pride.

"Are you really so sure about that, human?" Lydia said doubtfully, "A Zing only happens once in a lifetime, everybody knows that. And I just don't see why or how he could Zing with a _human_."

Elona's stomach cringed a bit more at how Lydia sneered the last word with such distain as she just tried to say patiently, "It just did, and I've never been more sure of anything in my entire life because he's saved my life so many times. And I've been tolerant so far, because you're not the first prejudice person I've met. So, please, Lydia, give me a chance."

The Dark Baroness just glared at Elona deep in the eyes to nearly penetrate her human soul and send a chill down Elona's spine, but she held firm as she sensed Dracula's reassuring presence beside her.

"Do you really think I care about what you think, human?" she hissed, "Your kind have been a threat to Monsters for centuries, so why should I give any of you a chance?"

"Because Drac and I are getting married and we're going to be family," Elona said with a confident if shaky voice.

Lydia suddenly became monstrous and frightening like a demon from Hell as fire surrounded her like a burning aura and the seams of her gown became living shadowy tendrils as fire blazed upon her head like a crown while her eyes were red and bloodshot as she gave a fierce roar. Her countenance seemed to border on giving in to her own Vampire Hunger.

Elona gave a scream of fright as she fell to her knees and held her hands over her face and tried to squeeze her eyes shut from the painful blast, feeling the intense burning heat from Lydia's demonic literal fiery temper.

In a half second there was a living shield in front of her as she heard a familiar equally fierce roar. She slowly looked up to see a glimmering silky darkness of a black cloak to then feel familiar strong hands slowly help her up and hug her close as Dracula gently swayed with her as she then heard another even louder and fiercer roar.

Somehow she knew it was Vlad even before he yelled the next second, "That's enough, Lydia! Clearly we need to have a talk. Now!"

Elona looked up from Dracula's chest to see Vlad dragging a surprised Lydia to another corner of the Great Hall.

Elona relaxed a bit in Dracula's embrace as she took a slow deep breath, taking even more reassurance from his presence as she said quietly,

"I think I see why you didn't want to invite her."

"It seems we both have family we didn't want to see on the holidays," Dracula said with a low laugh, but became worried as he asked, "Are you okay?"

Elona looked at her hands to see how red they had become as they felt tender and stung with the beginnings of slight burns.

"My hands," she gasped softly.

Dracula gently held them as he looked at them with concern, but was just glad Elona was okay as he reassured her, "They'll be okay, the burns should heal up in a couple of hours."

"How?" Elona only look confused as Dracula gave her a look with a raised eyebrow, making Elona give a small laugh as she remembered, "Oh, right."

She gingerly touched at the right side of her neck, not noticing how her parents had looked on at the exchange between her and Lydia along with the rest of the small crowd.

"Did you see that, Stewart?" Maggie breathed low, her heart pounding in her chest as fear seemed to grasp it in its icy grasp, "How is that possible? Could they be real? Oh, heavens, what's our precious daughter gotten herself into? We have to save her, get her out of this God forsaken place."

"I don't know, Maggie," Stewart said with worry and doubt, "But I'm not about believe that man and his family are Vampires or all this is real because there's such thing as monsters, and there's still a logical explanation. But clearly I was right about that man being so lost in his fantasy it might make him mentally unstable, and that makes him dangerous not only to Ellie, but to himself and those around him."

"What can we do then?" Maggie asked with a shaky voice, "I pray for his soul, Stewart, but even I know that if our prayers are to be answered we must do something. We have to help Ellie and get her home safely."

"Don't worry," he tried to reassure Maggie, "I've already called Jason and he'll be here soon enough, and hopefully with his help we get her to see reason again."

Maggie gave a bit of a relieved smile as she leaned in his embrace and said, "Now that will truly be a Christmas miracle."

On the other side of the small crowd out of ear shot and unaware of Elona's parents' conversation, Mavis and her family could only be shocked and a bit disappointed about what had happened.

Mavis hugged Dennis close when Aunt Lydia got 'flaming' mad as it scared him. But her son was the bravest and most caring boy she had ever known and just quickly recovered from the fright.

"Why is Aunt Lydia so mean to Miss Elona?" he finally asked with a bit of timidity.

"It's just the way she is, Honey," Mavis could only shrug, "It's how I knew her when she was here before you were born. But beneath that is…a cold almost evil monster. But even deeper beneath that is a genuinely caring woman, even if she doesn't show it. You just need to get to know her."

"I highly doubt she's want to get to know me," Johnny said with a disappointed shrug, "But I'm willing to give her a chance, even if it takes a while. I get why Drac didn't like me at first, but what about your aunt not liking humans?"

"The only way she's ever liked humans is as a tasty snack," Mavis said to give her human husband a big enough smile to show off her own fangs.

Johnny just gave a nervous laugh as he saw a stern Vlad and a scowling Lydia finish their conversation as she limped a bit away from her lecturing father.

She just slumped to the buffet to help herself to some dinner to be followed by Diane who flapped onto the table and started pecking at some food.

As the three of them approached Vlad, Mavis asked him, "What did you say to her, Grandpa?"

Vlad seemed to smirk as he simply said, "Just if she doesn't behave I'll do something worse than just roar and lecture her."

"Like what, V man?" Johnny asked.

Vlad's smirk just deepened as he suspiciously drolled, "I have my ways."

Seeing he wasn't going to reveal anything, his kin just shrugged.

Dennis then remembered something as he asked, "Did you really have a pet shrew when you were little, Grandpa Vlad?"

"Yeah," Mavis spoke up, "Like Dad had a raccoon for a pet once. That is something I've never known about you, Grandpa. I've never really had a pet, unless I count Margaret the cockroach I used to keep in my pocket."

"You had a pet, too, Mommy?" Dennis nearly squealed with a smile, "Can I have one, too?"

His parents just gave awkward looks to each other as Johnny finally said, "Uh, well, you've already opened your Christmas presents, little dude, so maybe we'll talk about it a little later."

"Yeah, maybe, Honeybat," Mavis concurred, "Why don't you go play with Winnie and your new friends."

Dennis was half way across the Great Hall with Winnie and the other kids as he told them his parents were going to get him a pet after the holidays.

"What kind of pet, Dennis?" Troy asked.

"I don't know," Dennis just shrugged to his cousin, "But I think I really want a puppy."


	3. What Are We Going To Do?

What Are We Going To Do?

****Chicago, O'Hare Airport

Going through airport security was the worst.

If they had arrived at least a half hour earlier, like he suggested, Jason and his friends would have been through the security check point a lot quicker and he wouldn't have to worry about catching their flight on time. But, what mostly worried him was what the security attendants would find in his carry-on bag if he was caught, and his worry and frustration was made all the worse as Blake complained as he got padded down and scanned by an average if attractive enough female TSA agent.

He could have left it at home, but he trusted his instinct to keep it with him and he didn't want to take the chance of one of his cool and well meaning if idiotic friends finding it at their apartment, even if he kept it under lock and key. Besides, he wanted to show that fancy cape wearing snob he meant business.

"Oh, c'mon, do I have to?" Blake complained.

"Yes, sir, it's procedure and it'll only take a minute," the female TSA agent instructed with as much patient authority as she could muster.

"Just do it, Blake, I had to," Ryan said loudly to his friend on the other side of security check.

Blake finally removed his shoes begrudgingly and put them into a pan to pass through the X-ray machine along with his own carryon bag and walked into the large scanning tube that made him feel like he was in some freaky sci-fi transporter or genetics science lab tube, which didn't make it any easier for his small if bothersome claustrophobia.

After the whoosh of the tube spun around him, Blake was out in a dash when it was barely halfway open and just grabbed his shoes and tried to control his quick nervous breath.

Jason watched his friend with some pity as he shook his head, thinking Blake really needed to get over it yet at the same time related a bit to his friend's problem because of his own struggles with a mild case of PTSD to go with his damn HIV.

He put his bag on the conveyer belt for the X-raying, took off his shoes, and removed any metallic items from his person to go through the X-ray machine and stepped into the scanning tube, confident after this in a literal minute they were through home free and will board their flight with time to spare.

But a beeping alarm went off much to Jason's chagrin before he even stepped out of the tube and gave a frustrated groan.

"Just a minute, please empty your bag, sir," a male TSA agent who was operating the X-ray machine ordered as he took Jason aside to do as instructed.

Jason quickly put his shoes back on and carefully emptied his bag, trying to keep everything nicely folded so as to put back into its needed place when ready.

He gave a confident smile as he said, "I don't know what the problem is, officer, I don't have any liquids in there, not even tiny shampoo."

The agent just gave a dissatisfied raised eyebrow as he stated, "That isn't everything from your bag, sir, I saw what looked like pieces of a weapon. Will you empty them out, please?"

Damn, he was sure he had them hidden well enough out of view of the X-ray screen, but clearly not well enough. And it's even the plastic type so as not to set off the alarm, but even that precaution didn't escape the TSA agents' observant eyes.

Jason reluctantly and begrudgingly took out a few pieces of his dismantled weapon to lay them out before the agent like a puzzle.

The agent gave him a look as Jason just shrugged and said, "I thought this would happen, but I assure you I have a good reason to bring it with me. Besides I have my license right here and my background check cleared. Besides, I'm a military man and know my rights and how to use it."

The agent just gave an indifferent look as Jason showed his ID and license to just say, "Maybe, sir, but I'm afraid this will have to be confiscated as it isn't allowed to be taken to your plane."

Jason became irate but kept his cool as he said, "I know you're just doing your job and there's good reason for the rule because there's crazy and bad people who want to hurt good decent people, especially in this country, and I've faced a lot of the bad guys, so I can assure you as a Marine I'm one of the good guys and I have reason to bring it with me. So surely you can make an exception, and I give you my word it'll be safe on the plane with me."

"Sorry, sir, I can't make any exceptions," the agent said in a reasonable monotone clear with indication he had heard such excuses before, "If you want it returned after your trip, you'll have to petition for it."

Jason felt a heat rise in his neck as his frustration rose, but he stayed calm in order to reason with the naïve oppressive agent.

"And how long would that take? Could I petition to take it with me now?"

"No, sir, and it depends on a lot of factors, but it averages to a least 4-6 months."

"Six months?!" Jason shouted as he pounded on the machine, drawing the attention of the crowd still trying to make their way though, "That's outrageous! That's how long I had to wait for my goddamn background check to clear to even get the damn thing!"

"Sir, please calm down and step aside," the agent tried to reason, "People are trying to get through."

"No, I will not calm down! I will not stand here have my rights I fought so hard for this god damn country to be crapped upon! I need my fuckin' gun, god damn it, 'cause my girlfriend is half way around the world being taken advantage of by some snooty shitnosed Disney prince wannabe player reject!"

"Sir, if you don't calm down you're going to have to come with us," said another authoritative voice as Jason suddenly felt himself being dragged away by strong hands, one of the hands was slightly smaller than one pair and he saw it was the female agent that had padded down Blake.

Jason tried to put on his most charming smile and gather his wits to calm down as he saw she wasn't bad looking, if not as exotic and sexy as Sara or as cute and sassy as Elona, but still no woman has been able to resist his charm.

"Okay, I'm sorry, you're right," he said with a dash of charm as he glanced at her badge, "I'll cooperate, uh, Jenny, that's a nice name. I'm sorry I snapped like that, it's just me and my friends are in a hurry to Transylvania to keep someone I really care about from making a big mistake, surely you can understand that?"

Jenny just gave an indifferent look as she instructed, "Please step aside, sir, and come with us for questioning."

"Of course, no problem. I don't mind answering questions for a pretty agent like you."

She just gave an impassive look, yet there was hint of annoyance in her eyes at his attempt at flirtatious flattery.

Jenny and the other male TSA agent then began to lead him away as Ryan then ran up to them quickly to ask with determination,

"Wait, how long will this take? Our plane leaves in half an hour."

"If he cooperates and answers all our questions, only a few minutes."

"Don't worry, guys, I'll see you shortly and I'll have this whole misunderstanding straightened out in no time."

Jason seemed to disappear around another corner with the agents as Blake and Ryan watched them go, but had to make the rest of the way to the gate to catch their flight on their own.

"What if he doesn't make it in time?" Blake asked with doubt, "Jas is an awesome guy, but he can get himself into trouble when he loses it, y'know, Ry."

"I know, and this is one of those times," Ryan sighed, "We shouldn't even be going to Transylvania, as amazing as that sounds, but I thought of it just in case, though it'll cost us maybe a couple of weeks worth of our usual paychecks. At least we'll have a place to stay 'till this blows over."

Blake just shook his head at the thought of Jason's predicament now, questioning why he had to bring that damn gun along, as badass as it seemed.

The truth was they were only going for moral support and neither one of them really cared about going halfway around the world for their friend's former love interest. Well, maybe one of them had an ulterior motive for going in the hopes of seeing someone he had grown fond of.

**** Hotel Transylvania, an hour later

It was the middle of the night or a really early morning when Stewart heard his cell phone buzz at him, making him grumble and groan from grumpy grogginess as he answered, "Hello? Who is it, what do you want? It's the middle of the night."

"I'm sorry to wake you, Stew, but it's early evening here and I don't have much time to talk. I just needed to let you know I'll be later than you expected," Jason's voice rushed out quickly in one breath.

"Jason? What's going on, what happened?" Stewart demanded as he sat up straight.

"I got detained by the damn TSA and I missed my flight, now I'm just trying to get a new flight and be there as soon as possible."

"What?! Why?"

"They found my gun I was trying to bring."

Stewart face palmed hard as he lectured hard, "You know it's illegal to bring weapons onto a flight, even international. You know how the government's regulated and watched these kinds of things since 9/11 and all the terrorist threats and such for years! I know you must've had good reason, Jason, but I can't believe you did something so damn stupid. How long will it be before you get here?"

"Hopefully in the next couple of days, but I'll have to change flights a couple of times, but don't worry I'll be there ASAP."

"See that you do, Ellie might be getting herself in more trouble than she realizes and I don't want her hurt."

"No prob, Stew." There was then a sudden beeping as Jason rambled quickly, "Uh-oh, my phone's about to go dead, but don't worry, Stew, I'll…"

Sudden silence as the call was dropped making Stewart think Jason's phone had finally lost power. He set it down as Maggie stirred beside him from sleep as she mumbled, "Stew, who was that, what's going on?"

"Jason telling me he's going to be later than we expected. He got detained because he tried to smuggle his gun onto the flight."

"What? Oh, good lord, he should know better. May the Lord watch over him."

"That's what I told him. Still I hope he can get here soon and help us to convince Ellie she's making a bit mistake with that delusional Count and come home with us."

"As much as I agree with you, Honey, I can't help shaking this feeling." A tone of growing uncertainly colored her voice.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what if he isn't delusional? There's just something about that man, about this place and all those people that doesn't sit right with me, and I pray I'm wrong. But, what if it isn't all fake and such, what if he's the real Count Dracula and they are all real monsters? Wouldn't that mean Ellie's in even more danger than we realize? If she is, we have to save her in the name of God's love and mercy."

Stewart was still skeptical of the whole thing, but they were both still in agreement as worried parents that their middle daughter needed guidance and tough love if she were to be saved and brought home.

"I don't mean to dismiss what you're saying, Maggie, but I still need proof of such suspicion. But that's all just stories and superstition, which just makes me worry even more Ellie may have fallen for that guy's charlatan charisma and may have unintentionally fallen in with some kind of twisted cult. But, yes, we have to make her see reason and get her to call off this misguided so-called engagement. So, we'll have to do what we can 'till Jason arrives."

"What're we supposed to do then?"

"I don't know, but I'll think of something. Maybe I'll think of something in the morning. Go back to sleep, and I'm sure things will be clearer after some rest."

Maggie gave a bit of a smile in the dark as they snuggled together to try and catch up on much needed rest, at peace for this fleeting moment.

But their tranquility was disrupted with they heard a sudden loud crash.


	4. Puppy Chaos

Puppy Chaos

****The previous night

A couple of days had passed after Christmas and/or Creepmas, and the hotel seemed peaceful and serene even covered in snow. If not for the warm glow of golden light and the company of loving family and supportive good friends within, the Gothic style Eastern European castle would have seemed foreboding in its isolation.

But the peace was disrupted in one part of the castle as Dennis excitedly bounced and flew around his parents' suite as he cried out with energetic gusto, "Puppy! Puppy! Puppy! Puppy!"

After hearing about how members of his family, including Papa Drac, his mommy, and even Papa Vlad had pets when they were younger, young Dennis became ever more certain he would be getting one too very soon, despite the holidays having passed by now. His excitement just grew more after he, his cousins Troy, Conner, and Parker, and new friends DJ and Ally, nephew and niece respectively of his future Mama Elona, were all taken by Grandpa Mike and Grandma Linda into town for a bit of fun and bonding time in Little Sighisoara. While there were plenty of activities to due at the hotel, it was nice every now and then to get out and see the surrounding sights and even bond with family that could only come to visit at certain times of the year.

The kids all just had a blast together going to a park to play in the snow, an arcade for pizza and games, and finally stopping at a pet shop to look at all the adorable animals, where they saw litters of just the cutest puppies of various kinds.

The thought of getting one just excited Dennis too much, he just had to convince his parents he was ready, and his Daddy did say they would talk about it later.

And it was finally later.

"Puppy! Puppy! Puppy! Puppy! Puppy!" he continued to cry out with his child like excited to his parents, who were seated on the couch in the living room watching a movie.

But they had to stop the movie, a family flick which ended with the parents getting their child the doggie he always wanted near the end, and Dennis just went bonkers.

He hugged his baffled parents' faces close to him as he looked into their eyes with his eyes wide and innocent as he asked sweetly, "Mommy, Daddy? Can we please get a puppy?"

"Uhh…" Johnny just droned out for a moment, his mind racing for an answer as he had to let his son down gently, but the thought of disappointing him was just so difficult as he remembered once asking his parents for a pet when he was a kid.

But before he answered, Mavis answered gently if with motherly strictness, "I'm so sorry, Honey, but taking care of a puppy is a lot of responsibility."

Johnny gave a small smile as Mavis took the reins for this, yet saw the disappointment grow on Dennis's face as it gradually dropped to a frown, but hoping to cheer him up, Johnny offered, "What if we got you a little gold fish instead?"

But Dennis's lip just quivered before he wailed out in disappointed tears as he transformed into a little bat and flew away, leaving his parents to look at each other awkwardly.

It was never easy to say no to and in turn disappoint one's own child; unless your heart was a stone cold blackhole.

Dennis just flew away through the hotel shedding tears of disappointed sadness until he finally landed on a balcony railing somewhere outside the hotel as he wailed sadly into the cold night, "I want a puppy!"

He just sat there and moped for a short while, sitting on a snow covered railing and staring into nothing when Dracula happened to be passing by on his rounds to be sure his hotel was running smoothly.

Seeing his sad vampson, he was by Dennis's side in a whoosh as he gushed sweetly, "Dennis, what is up, my cute curly haired tarantula?"

He gently tickled at Dennis's hair and gave a sweet doting smile, hoping to get the little bat to smile and cheer up about whatever was bothering him.

"I want a puppy, Papa Drac," Dennis said moped sadly, but suddenly a thought occurred to him as he perked up, "Wait a second, you could get it for me, Papa Drac!"

Dennis grabbed his vampa's face with his wings at the last few words; certain Dracula would do it if not his parents.

"Oh, no, no, no," Dracula refuse as he waved his hands at the very idea, "I couldn't possibly…"

It was too ridiculous, the very thought of getting Dennis a pet when he is clearly still too young to have that level of responsibility. Surly his parents told him he couldn't have a pet yet.

But then Dennis gave him an all too familiar look, a look he had seen Mavis give him at that age and growing up; the pouty bat face. Dennis's eyes went wide with adorable sadness as he pouted and quivered his lips, making Dracula gape and give a soft gasp at how strikingly similar it was to Mavis's pouty bat face.

Dracula's heart just melted and his face dropped as he became conflicted.

What was a vampa to do?

* * *

In Elona's suite, all of her monster friends and even her siblings and had all gathered for a nice visit which had quickly spiraled into a planning party for Elona's and Drac's wedding.

Elona got bombarded with so many ideas at once as the talk went on, she still wasn't sure where the casual talk began and the wedding ideas ended. It was all she could do to try and just keep herself together because a lot of her friends' suggestions sounded too ridiculous and outrageous at times making it feel like it was a terrible episode of one of those wedding reality shows with spoiled and entitled brides, which she didn't want to be.

She seemed to face palm so many times in the past hour alone she was certain her face was turning red, and not from blushing.

"She should get one of those big champagne fountains for the reception," Carrol suggested wistfully, "That would, like, be the most romantic thing, can you imagine."

"Pssf, absolutely not, those things are tacky," Eunice scoffed, "Forget about the reception, it's the wedding we should be preparing for; I mean I hear human parents always begin planning their daughters' weddings before they even have kids. The most difficult part is picking the dress, but an easy place to start is the bride's maids' dresses. They should be elegant, but not so flashy to out class the bride, and maybe come in contrasting colors like magenta and purple."

"Those aren't contrasting colors, Eunice," Elona groaned a bit of a heavy sigh, "They're closer to the same shade on the color wheel, and besides those sound like they would be hard on the eyes."

"How do you know that?" Eunice asked insulted.

"Working at a museum sometimes required a bit of an artistic eye, and studying art was one of my hobbies growing up and color theory was one of my favorite parts. Contrasting colors would be more like a green with magenta and purple with yellow. Come to think of it, those sound even worse."

Elona just sank deeper into her seat as Wanda said, "Martha was a pretty good artist, too, and maybe you could use what you know to coordinate the theme of your wedding. May I suggest something classy like how it was done in Victorian times. I admit, sometimes I miss those years."

"Perhaps, Wanda, though they paled in comparison to the weddings I bared witness to in Egypt, worthy of the gods they were," Nefi said, "And it may be prudent to consider the worthiness of the bloodlines."

Elona finally had enough of this talk as she huffed and said hard, "Girls, please, can we not talk about this right now? Drac and I haven't even set a date for the wedding and I'm already feeling the pressure. I still need time to let this sink in and think. Besides, I don't really want a big fancy blow out, I just want something simple and have friends and family there."

"You could do what Daniel and I wanted to do at first," Liz spoke up as she took a sip of her hot cocoa, "We would've just gone down to a courthouse and had a judge marry us with a few friends and family to witness. But both of our parents wanted something more traditional and we had to find ways to blend all these different and crazy wedding traditions just to make them happy. My god, there was so much going on I can barely remember all of it, and Dan could probably tell it better than I could if he were here instead of taking the kids to the movies. With my parents wanting us to marry at Mom's church and Daniel's mom wanting Japanese traditions from her parents and his dad trying to keep some his family's traditions alive from his ancestral tribe, which is understandable, I guess. But yeah, let's hope Drac's okay with something small and simple."

"I don't know, Liz," Elona sighed, "He does like to plan pretty big parties; he's told me about a few he threw in the last century. But hopefully he'll be okay with a simple ceremony for our wedding."

"Just don't be surprised if Mom and Dad want something big and fancy, though I'm 90% certain Mom would want it at some Gothic church in town if not her church back home. Now there's an awkward situation."

"Oh, I don't even want to think about it." Elona covered her face in embarrassment at the very thought as she leaned on her knees.

"Well, I doubt Mom and Dad would do anything like that for me," Sean complained, "Spoil my sisters 'cause they're older, and I'm just some fag who doesn't deserve anything."

"Don't you say that about yourself, Sean," Liz scolded, "You're not some fag, you're our brother and we love you. Besides, if Mom and Dad won't give you a wedding, you know Daniel and I will, or maybe even Drac if you asked him."

Sean rolled his eyes yet was cheered up a bit at his older sister's teasing. He then suggested, "I'm getting some coffee, and can we talk about something else?"

Eunice then leaned in close to Elona to say low behind her patchwork palm, "It's too bad your brother's not into girls, he's really adorable and I know a few really nice and pretty monster chicks who might've gone out with him."

"Yeah, but let me know if you know any available guys," Elona whispered back with a smirk, "But, yeah, we should talk about something else, like maybe New Year's resolutions."

"Don't you mean New Fear's resolutions, sweetie?" Eunice said, "Mine's going to be replacing my stitches more often, or getting a better quality brand. Honestly, the kind I use right now isn't up to my standards anymore."

"I want to start having my kids finding new hobbies and interests besides their roughhousing and play fighting with each other, as adorable as it is," Wanda said, "Maybe even take a break after this litter."

She loving rubbed at her ever swollen tummy as Carrol said, "Speaking of which, I'd rather talk about how many kids you think you'll have."

"Excuse me?" Elona gasped low as she just froze.

"Well, now that you've gone all the way with Drac and you're tying the knot, kids are the next logical step," Carrol teased with a clear smug expression of her pearl glasses, "So have you two talked about it?"

"Uh…no, not really," Elona droned with awkward hesitation as discomfort grew within her.

"The wedding hasn't even happened yet, Carrol," Wanda spoke up, "so children may be the last thing on their minds right now."

"Indeed, even if it will be important to carry on strong bloodlines," Nefi commented, "a value which seems to have less importance these days, I believe for now Elona and Drac will concentrate on their union. For now what matters most is expressing their deep love and connection and commitment to each other."

"Although this does make me wonder," Eunice said as she touched her chin and gave a thoughtful look, "What would they be anyway?"

"What do you mean?" Elona asked.

"Well, you're not entirely human anymore, not like Johnny, and they got Dennis, so it just makes me wonder."

"Speaking of which, how have you been coping, Sis?" Liz asked.

"Coping with what?" Sean asked as he sat back down and took a sip of fresh hot coffee.

"Being part Vampire," Liz said, making Sean suddenly give a giant spit of his coffee, making everyone else try to shield themselves.

"What?!" he cried out in shock, "How? When did that happen?!"

"Just before you got here," Elona said hesitantly.

"How did it happen? Are you okay? How does it affect your HIV? Do Mom and Dad know?"

Elona could only freeze as her little brother bombarded her with questions until Liz finally intervened, "Whoa, slow down, Sean! This is all still new and she's still adjusting, so give her some space, okay?"

"You knew, Liz?" Sean gave a hurt angered look.

"Yes," she answered low, "And I'm still a little shocked by it like you are now, so it's still sinking in. And no, Mom and Dad, nor do my husband and kids know it and we need to keep it that way for now."

"Why? Aren't you always telling us being honest is better than trying to live a lie? We have to tell them."

"Yes, but sometimes timing can be the worse. Remember what happened after you came out of the closet to Mom and Dad? Sometimes I still blame myself for it and maybe you wouldn't have been held back if I hadn't pushed you."

Sean slowly nodded as he said, "Yeah, but it wasn't your fault, Liz. Maybe you're right, we need to give this time."

"What do you think, Ellie, when do you think we should tell Mom and Dad?"

Elona was only silent for a long minute as everyone looked at her expectantly, growing really uncomfortable with the sudden attention. She just stood up as she said, "I'm going for a walk, I need to think."

Her friends and siblings just gave looks to each other as they heard the door close with a slow click.

* * *

Elona walked down the hallway getting lost in thought and not quite sure how to feel about what just happened, just needing to take a quick break as she suddenly realized how much her life may actually be changing.

Not really paying attention to where she was going she just turned a corner when she suddenly bumped hard into someone familiar.

A familiar arm wrapped around her waist in time before she fell and couldn't help but smile as she looked up to see Dracula holding her.

"Why do we keep bumping to each other like this?" she asked with a rather cute embarrassed smile.

"Because just meeting up expectantly is boring, and you can't resist my Vampiric magnetism," he teased.

They just chuckled flirtatiously as he helped Elona right herself as Dracula then became awkward as he rubbed the back of his neck as he said,

"Uh, Elona, could I ask you something? Your sister has kids, and maybe you know where I'm coming from, but uh, sometimes you know how uh, a kid asks you for something which their parents probably said no to and so um…probably kinda sorta asked you for it instead. So hypothetically of course, this kinda thing happened to you, what do you do?"

Elona got a little suspicious at his question but just shook her head amusedly as she said, "Did Dennis ask you for something that his parents said no to? Well, I'd say respect their wishes, but sometimes you can't help spoiling kids, because well, I wanted to be the cool aunt and I know you like to spoil Dennis."

"Yeah, I do, he's my special little beelzabuddy."

"Yeah, he is," she laughed, "Well, I still think his parents' wishes should be respected, but if you think it's something he's ready for, then maybe it's okay. Just give it a little time."

He gave this a thought for only a moment as his face lit up and gave her a quick peck on the lips as he told her, "Thanks, Elona, my darling blood orange, you've really helped clear it up for me."

He was about to leave when Elona said, "Could I ask you something real quick, too?"

"Sure, what's up?"

She hesitated for just a moment, yet her conversation from earlier still bothered her. So she gathered some courage as she asked hesitantly,

"Do you think we'll have kids someday?"

He just went a bit wide eyed, surprised and confused. "Well, uh, it's not off the coffin table, but I haven't really thought about it, you know 'cause we have a wedding to plan and I'm pretty busy with hotel stuff, y'know. What brings this up?"

"Oh, just something the girls were talking about, but I guess we can talk about it later. You're right, that's a long way off for now and I just want to concentrate on the wedding."

"You got that right, sweet fang. We'll talk about it a little later, I have something to do."

He gave her another quick peck on the lips, which would have become something more hot and steamy as Elona felt a fleeting arousing urge from his kiss, but he was gone in a quiet whoosh like a disappearing shadow.

Elona felt a bit relieved about that brief talk, but the other situation which bothered her was something she just didn't want to deal with right now and she still had a lot to think about.

****The next night, Mavis and Johnny's suite

It was a mostly quiet evening at the hotel, Mavis quietly enjoyed a book while Johnny played with toys with Dennis as he bumped a bunny toy into Dennis's toy truck. But the little red headed Vampire hybrid just didn't have his heart into playing with his daddy at the moment, his face in a deep crestfallen frown as a dark cloud of sadness hung over him.

There then came a knock at the suite's door interrupting the family's quiet evening.

Dracula peeked through the door as he laughed sheepishly, "Oh, hey, hi. I…"

But he and the door suddenly burst through and flew right across the room, looking like a small shadowed meteor and crashed into the wall across the room. A monstrous canine snout full of large sharp teeth yapped through the gaping opening in excitement, shaking the entire room.

The next moment the wall crumbled to rubble as a giant blue-black pug-like dog the size of an elephant burst through panting happily and wagging its curly tail, shocking the entire family.

Another half moment later, Elona and her parents arrived, having heard some sort of loud commotion and crashes across the hotel.

"What the hell is going here?!" Stewart shouted.

"Oh, my god! Is that a dog?" Maggie gasped.

Elona gave a shocked look to Dracula, now entangled in a pile of destroyed furniture as he just shrugged and said sheepishly with a crooked smile, "Uh, surprise!"

"Yes. Yes, it is," Elona said low and slow as shock set in.

As Dennis saw the new dog, his eyes widened and pupils dilated as his adorable cherub face lit up with elation.

"PUPPYYYY!" he yelled happily as he hugged the large pup's face as it continued to pant happily and eyed his new best friend.

As the rest of the room just stared on in silent shock Dracula finally righted himself, smiling proudly he had made his only vampson happy as he stood near his daughter.

But Mavis was having none of it as she gave a mad glare to her father and scolded with a hard tone, "Dad!"

"What? Every monster needs to have a cute little puppy," he just shrugged with a smile.

"You call that little?! That animal's the size of a house!" Stewart yelled.

The giant puppy yapped excitedly as it bounced around playfully, making Dennis laugh as they played together making the entire room quake and making the humans stumble and try to find something to hold onto and steady themselves with as furniture shook and fragile objects fell and shattered as though from an earthquake.

The pup then gave Dennis a loving lick, but swallowed him whole in the process causing Maggie to gasp, "Oh, my God! It ate the poor child!"

She would have leaped into action as motherly instincts kicked in, but there was no need as the next moment the pup belched out its tongue and it rolled across the room as though a wet pink carpet to then reveal Dennis covered in saliva and yell happily,

"I love my puppy!"

Elona couldn't help but smile at the adorable scene while she also began to feel a growing annoyance towards her fiancé as she realized what he had done.

"Now naming such a magnificent creature can be quite challenging," Dracula instructed proudly, "Ghengis Khan. Cujo."

"Or how about Baskerville, or Zoltan or even Bob," Elona said sarcastically with her arms crossed, for some reason reminded of Sherlock Holmes and a bad movie about a hound of Dracula.

"It looks more like a Hellhound or a Cerberus to me," Maggie said barely under her breath.

While names were being suggested Dennis rode upon his new puppy as it sniffed around the room as though looking for something, then did something really inappropriate as Dennis said happily, "Tinkles."

"Yes," Dracula agreed but then went wide eyed in surprise as he realized what Dennis said, "Wait, what?!"

"My living room!" Mavis gasp as she ran to the now urinated upon spot.

Dracula began to quietly try to make his way out as he said, "Okay, well, bye-bye!"

But his chance to run was blocked by Elona and her parents as they gave him hard looks as she asked him with a controlled if hard tone, "Drac, where did you that dog?"

"Uh…" he just droned as his eyes shifted rapidly trying not to look her in the eye.

Stewart then confronted the Count as he said, "Listen, Count, I know it's not my place to tell you how to handle your family, and I know what it's like to want to spoil your kids, but they need limits and you can't just give them everything they ask for. But like Ellie, I ask where you got the dog and how much did such a huge animatronic cost you're will to endanger such a young child?"

"It's awfully lifelike for an animatronic," Maggie breathed in disbelief.

"Uh, eh, the pet store in town, of course," Dracula stammered with a nervous smile trying to brush it off, "And he didn't cost much at all. Besides, Elona encouraged me about it."

Elona went wide eyed as she stammered out, "What?! No, I didn't!"

Both her parents gave her hard looks as she tried to explain, "We just had a talk about something earlier and…"

"Okay, I'll let you guys talk it out and I'll see later, Puddin' Puss," Dracula spout out a mile a minute then pecked Elona on the forehead and was gone as Mavis and Elona exclaimed loudly and simultaneously,

"Dad!"

"Drac!"

Elona's parents just gave her hard looks as she looked at a perturbed Mavis trying to clean the pee stain as Dennis scratched Tinkles' tummy and his leg twitched in the air as he panted happily.

"You encouraged this?" Maggie snapped with motherly disappointment.

"No, I…" Elona began frustrated as a heated anger grew inside her, making her eyes momentarily glow vermillion, but just squeezed the bridge of her nose, "I don't want to deal with this right now, I'm going back to my suite."

Her parents could only watch her leave with blank but hurt looks. Maggie then decided to help Mavis clean up the stain while Stewart helped Johnny clean up the rest of the mess.

****The next night

It was a bit of a slow time between Christmas and New Year's Eve, leaving the hotel with few guests primarily made up of humans; family and future family.

As the Sun set quietly into nightfall, Count Dracula took the time to sleep in within the cozy confines of his coffin as he snoozed quietly.

"Dad, we're going out," came the voice of his daughter, muffled by his closed coffin, "Can you watch Tinkles?"

"Unh, sure, honeyspider," he groaned groggily, "Okay, yes."

"Bye, Tinkles," Dennis called out faintly as the door closed.

Dracula would have gone back to sleep but got interrupted by a loud whining. He grumpily opened his coffin to see Tinkles giving him giant sad puppy eyes as he whined and whimpered for attention about something.

Whatever it was an annoyed Dracula didn't care and just closed his coffin and tried get comfy again to go back to sleep.

But he wasn't allow to sleep as Tinkles scratched and wacked at his coffin, making it shake and rattle violently as the giant pup whimpered and whined and yapped for attention.

Dracula just waited it out, his eyes wide open wondering when it would stop. Finally, the shaking stopped and he finally got cozy again as he yawned wide to go back to sleep with contentment.

But his eyes snapped open as he realized…

"Wait, Tinkles! No! Stop!" he shouted loudly bursting from his coffin and waving his arms in the air.

Tinkles gave a guilty look with one of his rear legs lifted high.

****The lobby

"Mavis, wait!" he yelled as he flew through like a comet into the lobby and landed in front of the revolving door, still in his fuschia pajamas and with Tinkles bounding after him with a happily lopping tongue and shaking the entire lobby in excitement caught up in the game.

He found Mavis wasn't alone as Johnny was also with her and they held Dennis's hands and DJ and Ally were with them as well.

"Mavis," Dracula began as Tinkles bounded up the kids and panted happily, making them laugh, "Why do I have to watch Tinkles?"

Mavis gave a sigh like she had expected this but wanted to avoid it. "We're taking the kids out to a Kakie New Year's Festival in town, giving Liz and Dan their own date night, Stew and Maggie are having a private dinner at Hunchback's…" Dracula mumbled to himself he really needed to change the name. "And Elona has to work at the front desk, it may be a little slow right now but it's going to start filling up soon for the annual New Fear's Eve party, Dad."

"Well, why can't you take the dog with you?" Dracula asked with huff as he crossed his arms.

She just gave him a frowning look as she rolled her eyes to say, "The kids wanted that, too, but Maggie thought that would be too dangerous since he's not trained very well and is so rambunctious she worried Tinkles would get them hurt. I can't say I blame her, and besides you wanted to get Dennis a puppy he wanted and I think you can take care of him for a little while."

Dracula gave a look to Johnny, but he just shrugged and said, "See you later, Drac." They all made their way past Dracula as he watched them leave. Tinkles whined and tried to follow, but Dracula froze the pup with a wave of his hand as he sighed, "Ah-ah."

Tinkles whined again, making Dracula roll his eyes as he made a giant leash appear as he whirled in an indigo cloud and was dressed. He made his way to the reception desk where Elona did her best to help a newly arrived were-boar couple check-in. Dracula would have jumped in to help her, but after fiddling with the computer she easily filled out the needed information to then hand them a room key, as Monsters still preferred old fashion keys to high tech key cards.

"How is everything, Night Flower?" he asked over sweetly, "Need any help?"

"No, thanks, Drac, I think I'm finally getting the hang of the job," Elona said confidently.

"That's great, Honeybat," he smiled widely, "So maybe you've got the hang of it enough you could do me an itsy bitsy favor."

Elona gave a suspicious look.

"What do you want, Drac?" she groaned.

"Could you watch Tinkles for a bit? I just really wanted to catch up on something today, and well I don't know if I'll have time to watch him."

"I'm busy, Drac, and as much as I'd like to catch up on love time with you, you'd better take Tinkles outside now, he looks ready to burst."

Dracula finally noticed Tinkles was ready to mark his territory again right in the lobby, which he was sure would be worse than all of Wayne's pups combined, and stopped the giant puppy with a yank of the leash and lead him quickly outside.

"You really have to house train him better!" she called after him.

* * *

It just took forever for the giant pup to mark his territory, and Dracula supposedly knew a thing or two about eternity, but this a was different level of eternity.

Dressed in a winter coat and earmuffs, Dracula slowly tapped his shoe on the frozen ground in the courtyard, his arms crossed as he gave a deep grumpy frown which became deeper and deeper the longer Tinkles took to do his business.

Finally the urinating stopped and Tinkles panted happily at the grumpy Vampire as he grumbled, "Happy?"

Tinkles then lowered himself and moaned sadly as he gave those big puppy eyes again.

"Ugh, what is it now?" Dracula groaned.

Tinkles opened his cavernous mouth wide open, which could fit a grown human or Vampire easily inside, to gave a low rumbling groan.

"You're hungry. Unbelievable."

He glided away in annoyance with the pup's continued neediness to return soon after with an old wheelbarrow full of a tower of meat while grumbling to himself, "Lord of Darkness to doggy caterer, what has happened to my life?"

Tinkles leaped and bounced in happy excitement as Dracula brought him food, his curly tail wagging like a mini airplane propeller.

Dracula gushed with some baby talk, "Oh, you like this? Now who wants to sit?"

Surprisingly, Tinkles immediately sat straight up at the command as Dracula took a thick steak from the meat pile making him exclaim in impressed surprise.

Looking up at the meat he held up high, Dracula gave a smile as an idea came to him.

"Down," he command, and Tinkles followed showing he could be trained if motivated by food.

Dracula gave him a series of commands which Tinkles easily followed, "Up. Sit. Roll over. Up. Shake. Down. Roll over. Sit. Up. Roll over. Shake. Down. Roll over. Sit. Speak!"

"Hi, how are you?" Tinkles spoke with a surprisingly deep voice, make Dracula go wide eyed.

He just shrugged as he finally gave Tinkles the steak, which the pup scarfed down in a half a second to then be followed by practically inhaling the giant meat pile in two more seconds.

He then finally headed back inside to the lobby to see a line of monsters had formed at the reception desk and Elona struggled to keep up with checking everybody in. She had just checked in a family of centaurs to double and even triple check they had rooms on a ground floor as she wiped her brow in exasperation as he joined her with Tinkles right behind him.

"Is everything alright, Elona?"

"Yeah," she breathed, "it's been getting busy, I guess with New Fear's Eve coming up, but I'm doing my best to keep up, and it's getting close to my break time."

"Tell you what, I'll take over for a little while so you can take a well deserved break."

He gave her a loving kiss on the lips, making her laugh low. As she eyed Tinkles, some doubt grew as she asked,

"Are you sure? I can watch Tinkles for you."

"No, no, it's quite alright, Honeybat," he reassured her, "Besides, I think I finally know how to train the little guy. He can stay with me as long as he behaves himself and I know how he'll do that."

He showed her a piece of meat he saved, making her smile though hoped he knew what he was doing.

"Okay, thanks, Drac. I'm going to get a quick bite to eat at the bar."

She gave him a quick kiss and was gone.

Things went smoothly for a little while as Dracula checked in new guests, handing a floating brain a key as he said hospitably, "Yes, here is your room key. Enjoy your stay."

The new guest shoved the key into its brain with a squishy squelching sound as Tinkles started whimpering behind Dracula again, annoying him.

"Shh, I said you could stay with me as long as you behave," he scolded low, making Tinkles go from panting happily to a sad whimper.

Isadora then flew up him to report, "Sir, the Bones' family reunion is here to check in."

"Yes, wonderful," he replied with a smile, "I was expecting…"

His face suddenly lit up with shock as he realized what the head housekeeping witch told him; a family of skeletons had walked into his hotel, and there was a giant hungry puppy right behind him!

Dracula could practically sense Tinkles' face lighting up at the sight of the tasty guests moments before he felt himself get covered in wet drool.

"Oh, no. Stay," he tried to command meekly as he held up the steak he saved, but Tinkles was in a trance.

The next moment he burst out from behind the reception desk, galloping towards the skeletons in a happy feeding frenzy and leaving a path of destruction behind him as Dracula heard screams all around him.

It only last maybe a minute or two, but it seemed an eternity with nothing but crashes and panic all around Dracula as he ducked for cover and could only watch as the excitable Tinkles chased after one skeleton and then another as they tried to run away like their lives depended on it, which it may have.

Dracula could only watch for those long minutes or so, flinching every time he heard a crash of expensive furniture and give a muffled or ignored command to get Tinkles to stop, but the pup was just a hyperactive bulldozer all over the lobby smashing through furniture and bowling over panicked guest to chew and gobble up the skeletons to make Dracula cringe every time he heard a crunch.

There seemed to be no end in sight of Tinkles' rampage until Dracula heard the large lobby organ crash to smithereens as though its garbled disharmonious music signaled the end.

The dust steadily began to settle a bit and the pandemonium slowly became a scene of complete chaos as Dracula stood to take in the sight of his lobby.

The lobby was completely destroyed and in shambles, while somehow a fire had started to burn; he even saw Tinkles happily chewing on his boney catches while he also heard moaning injured guests all around him.

Giving a heavy sigh of defeat as he glared hotly at Tinkles, he knew there was nothing he could do now except get to cleaning up and trying get everything repaired while getting medical treatment for his hurt guests.

Unfortunately, it was at that moment several more people arrived.

"Did you have fun at the festival, kids?" Johnny asked with a big smile, his own inner kid clearly showing.

"Yeah, that was the bestest fun ever!" Ally practically shrieked, "I wanna live in Transylvania!"

"Eh, it was okay," groaned DJ, "But Kakie's for little kids, I'm too old for that stuff. I'm more into Batman."

"I like Batman, too," Dennis said, "But I still love Kakie, too."

"So did you have a fun time at the festival, Honey?" Mavis asked as they walked into the lobby.

"Yeah, but I missed Tinkles."

"Yeah, he's a pretty awesome dog, you got the coolest papa. I honestly can't wait till he's my uncle."

"Me, too," Ally agreed with a big smile, "I thought Count Dracula was mean and scary, but he's cool and nice. Do you think Tinkles'll wanna play with us now?"

"I'm sure he will," Mavis assured.

But she couldn't help but gasped loudly as her face just went wide eyed with shocked horror as she saw the state of the lobby, Johnny just exclaimed with equal shock, "Whoa, dudes! It looks like a hurricane blew through here!"

"Oh, My God! What the hell happened!" two people yelled simultaneously as Elona arrived from one end of the lobby while her parents arrived from another, having heard the commotion clear across the hotel in the restaurant.

Elona and her parents just went wide eyed and slackjawed at what they saw.

Mavis finally saw her father in his nearly futile attempt to clean up the mess as she exclaimed, "Dad, what happened?!"

"That's what I'd like to know," Stewart said with a growing angered disappointed.

"Is everyone, okay?" Maggie asked worriedly as she looked over the three children, "Are you kids hurt?"

"We're fine, Grandma," DJ groaned with some annoyance at his doting grandmother.

"Drac, are you okay?" Elona asked with growing worry, "What happened?"

"Tinkles happened," he finally answered with frustration as he held the torso of one of the groaning skeleton family members, its lower half completely missing, while Dracula used his other hand to point at the culprit.

Everyone could only watch on in disgusted fascination as Tinkles happily chewed on nearly the entire Bones family like the best teat he had ever gotten. Several were obviously trying futilely to hold Tinkles mouth open in order to escape, but the pup's jaw proved too strong and Tinkles too determined to eat up his victims.

One skeleton's skull squeezed through Tinkles fangs and cheered with joy, "I'm free!"

It bounced away as another full skeleton also got lucky and leaped out as he cheered out, "So am I!"

But his escape to freedom was short lived as he got stuck with a line of thick puppy saliva and got snapped back like it was a slimy rubberband and shattered to pieces next to Tinkles as he continued to happily eat up his family.

"I knew getting that giant dog was a bad idea," Stewart grumbled.

"Housekeeping!" Mavis and Elona shouted simultaneously if unintentionally.

At first Isadora and her sisters could only look on in shock at the state of the lobby, but got to work nonetheless as Dracula also called for zombie workmen while he tried to get Tinkles to spit out the skeleton family and called for Dr. Viperstein.

"Tinkles, spit them out," he commanded, but Tinkles just whimpered before growling cutely.

But Dracula wasn't buying it as he and Elona commanded hard, "Tinkles, spit them out now!"

Whimpering sadly, Tinkles finally did as he was told, spitting out the family in a pool of thick wet slimy drool as they all moaned from the trauma.

Dracula put the leash on Tinkles collar and let Mavis and Johnny take the rambunctious pup away while Elona put a supportive arm around his waist as he pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned with stress,

"Ugh, now I need a break."

"I'm right there with you, darling," Elona agree low as she hugged him while her parents gave Dracula judging looks.

He wanted to make a good impression on them, but this incident clearly wasn't making the best first impression for his future in-laws.

It would take a little time for things to get back to normal in the lobby, so hopefully there's was nowhere to go from here but up.

Dracula was certain things couldn't get worse.


	5. The Return of the Ex

The Return of the Ex

Finally, he had arrived!

Being held up at O'hare had taken longer than he expected, plus the hours long flight from O'hare to some place in Europe he's never heard of, much less could pronounce, didn't make it any easier for him as he had to change flights there to really fly to Transylvania.

As he disembarked with the rest of the passengers, Jason gave a relieved smile as he saw some familiar faces greet him from the crowd as he roughly hugged his friends and tightly shook hands with Stewart.

"Finally made it," he said as they made their way through the airport, "and I didn't exactly expect to spend New Year's in Transylvania, but who knows it might be cool."

"Oh, I think you're gonna like it, Jas," Blake said, "Little Sighisoara is so weird, but in an Old World charm and gothic kind of way, it seems to really embrace its weird quirkiness."

"It's just all part of drawing tourists, Blake," Stewart said, "Especially since it's so close to that themed hotel we're going to."

"The one Ellie's staying at?" Jason inquired with a suspicious glare.

"Right, and we need to get there quickly," Stewart urged, "Ellie's been there for months now; she seems to be losing touch with reality with that so-called Count."

"As much as I'm eager to see Ellie again, even tell her how sorry I am, I could use a drink first, Stew," Jason said, showing a bit of exhaustion from the long flight.

"Good idea, it'll be a good chance to at least get you caught up on what's going on, and hopefully not make a scene."

"There's this pretty sick but quaint pub right next to the hostel Blake and I are staying at, called the Batty Brew and their drinks are just bitchin'," Ryan said eagerly.

"Just be careful with how much you drink, Jason," Stewart warned, "on account of your condition."

Agreements were mumbled as they made their way to the terminal where Jason picked up his bags, then took a short taxi ride to his friends' hostel.

* * *

The Batty Brew Pub was indeed quaint, but still old school cozy as it patroned to both locals and tourists alike with a mix of Renaissance style architecture in the building's stone and woodwork, along with an occasional steampunk feel in décor, while three contemporary flats screen TVs were evenly scattered in the corners playing different sports games from around Europe, and the bartenders typed on tablets with second nature.

Sitting together at a table an attractive waitress took their orders for drinks, which Jason did in a flirtatious manner with his most charming smile which Stewart frowned at.

Jason just shrugged like he couldn't help himself as Stewart got serious as he told the younger men, "We can't forget why I asked you to come all the way out here, Jason, and while it's a good idea to have friends here for moral support, this is really between you, Ellie, and that delusional Count."

"Sure thing, Stew," Jason concurred, "I'm still hoping you'll help me on this. What do you know about this guy, anyway, and what about the rest of your family? You know I haven't had a real family most of my life with my Dad having died when I was still in high school and my own Mom terminally ill off and on for the last few years."

Stewart sighed deeply, "This so-called Drac has won over Liz and Sean, and even my own grandchildren, which I shouldn't be so surprised at, but it does which worries me even more. But I'm hoping they'll come around once they see this isn't just a chance at reconciliation between you and Ellie, but also an intervention. The guy is so wrapped up in the part he plays he really thinks he's Count Dracula and even has his whole family going along with it. Maybe he's some kind of method actor, but there's a difference between being a skilled and dedicated actor and going off the rails so much to losing touch with reality."

"And my poor Ellie's gotten so seduced by the jackass lunatic's acting chops, she's losing it, too," Jason hissed a bit trying to hold back a jealous sneer, "Like she's getting some kind of Stockholm Syndrome."

"I don't know I'd go that far about Ellie, but maybe. While she is intelligent and independent, she's still impressionable and prone to daydreams since she was a little girl."

"And she needs a grounded man to keep her grounded," Jason said a bit arrogantly.

"Exactly," Stewart agreed as the waitress finally brought them their drinks, which Jason thanked her for by giving an exceptional tip and telling her,

"A pretty girl like you deserves something special after being on your feet all day. Maybe I'll even buy you a drink when you're off."

The waitress just chuckled awkwardly as she said politely with a Romanian accent Jason found exotic and alluring, "Uh, thank you, sir, but I get off really late, so perhaps another time."

Jason smiled charmingly at her as he lightly stroked her arm as she walked away, her face dropping a bit in disgust as she rolled her eyes at having to deal with such customers all too frequently.

Jason had what was appropriately called a Silver Bullet while his friends had Palinkas, and Stewart decided to try the local version of the Romanian national drink called Tuica.

He frown disapprovingly deep at Jason for his behavior as he fatherly scolded, "What have I told you about such behavior, young man? It might've been innocent at first, but you're an adult now with responsibilities, and those responsibilities include the well being of my daughter."

"Sorry, Stew," Jason shrugged, "I can't help myself sometimes when I see a pretty face. But, you're right, and it's time to settle down and really show how much Ellie really means to me. I just wish she understood me a little better like you do."

"I suppose it's a woman thing, because I've gone through the same thing sometimes with Maggie." He took a gulp of his drink, giving a twisted if intrigued look at the strong but unfamiliar taste as he swallowed. "Ugh, not bad, I suppose, but nothing will ever compare to a good old American brewed beer like Jack Daniels to me. Before we do anything to help Ellie, I first need you to tell me again your side of the story of what happened, Jason."

Jason sighed a bit in frustration as he took another sip of his drink. "It's just as I've told you before, Stew, we had a fight because she blamed me for giving her HIV, and I now know it's my fault because something happened to me on my last deployment and she couldn't understand that."

"And the alleged flings?"

"Completely blown out of kilter, I just flirted a little with my fellow women officers, but they had my complete respect when a mission, or even combat called for it."

"I'm proud you know that, son, because you become brothers and sisters-in-arms in the Marines, closer than family at times, and you need to know they have your back, just like I know you do with Ellie. Semper Fi."

Jason gave a rather arrogant smile as he and Stewart clunked their drinks in a cheer, and he concurred, "Semper Fi."

"I knew your dishonorable discharge had to be a misunderstanding," Stewart said reassured.

"So, why were you discharged, Jas?" Blake asked confused.

Jason's face seemed to turn momentarily dark as he just gulped down the rest of his drink, gave a twisted frown at the strong alcoholic aftertaste as he grumbled with a lingering anger, "It was stupid, like everything else that made me lose everything. I was out with some guys on the town near the base in the Mid East after a stressful day of training and patrolling. We got a little too drunk and one of those dicks with the towels on his head accused us of something, but he was clearly drunker than we were. Long story short, we tried to defuse the situation but he punched one my friends, an American officer no doubt, and I just lost my cool and punched him back. I don't remember the rest 'cause it's all a blur to me, but we got charged with civilian assault and near manslaughter. If the guy had left us alone, none of it would've happened and I might be a Staff Sergeant by now."

His fist hit the table so hard and loud, it echoed throughout the pub and startled his friends, Stewart, and the rest of the patrons enough to stare at them in momentary silence.

"Easy, Jason," Stewart said calmly, "I know this last year has been difficult, especially with Ellie leaving and your health, but you've done so well so far. Don't let a past mistake hold you back, otherwise you might really lose everything you've worked so hard for, especially getting Ellie back."

"I'm sorry, Stew," Jason choked out as he tried to take a calming breath, "I know I drove Ellie away, and all I want to do is make it up to her now."

"What did the civilian accused you of anyway?" Stewart asked with suspicion and curiosity.

"Like I said, it's a blur and I really don't remember." This was a fib, but it no longer mattered anyway.

The guy turned out to be an unwed woman's father and Jason and the young woman had a brief fling, while he also promised to somehow smuggle her to the U.S.A to start a new life away from her neglectful family, especially her abusive father. But the father found out about this and the fling, but didn't know which one of the Marines it was and accused them of defiling her and dishonoring him.

Unfortunately, Jason had been unable to help the young woman due to his own situation now and it weighed a bit on his guilty conscience wondering what happened to her, though he suspected the worst was likely a kind of 'honorable killing'. The truth was, they didn't just have a brief fling, which he only did out of pity for her, but because her own father saw her as a stain on the family for having HIV and Jason promised to try and get her the medical help she needed, which her father denied her due to so-called tradition. Maybe he could have faked a marriage to get her state side, but his heart belonged to Ellie and she definitely wouldn't have taken it well.

But Stewart was right, he couldn't let a past mistake hold him back as he has his own problems now and he can only hope the young woman was in a better place now with his thoughts and prayers to her.

"I know I've made mistakes in the past, and I shouldn't have accused Ellie of being unfaithful," Jason sighed with some frustration, "But what does this new guy have that I don't, besides money and a big fancy castle?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Stewart said with a shrug, "But from what I can tell, if you look around hard enough and from people I've spoken to around this backwater town, he has enough charisma to even get the people here caught up in the act and everybody seems to love him and his friends."

"Not everybody," a roughened voice said from nearby.

They all looked to see a thuggish looking man in ripped denim pants and jacket and with a shaggy beard sitting at a table by himself as he took a deep swig of his beer. He put the pint cup down hard as he spoke in a roughened Romanian accented voice, "I'm sorry for the ease droppin', but I couldn't helps over hearin' you talk about the Dracula guy."

"No problem, the actor that runs the monster themed hotel nearby past the woods. What do you know about him besides what I've already heard?"

The thug gave a low laugh as he said, "Not surprising tourists like you still he's an actor, but he ain't no actor, and he's more dangerous than you can know if you're thinkin' of getting involves with him."

"What do you mean?" Stewart asked worriedly.

"Not so long ago me and my buddies had a run-ins with the guy, we was mindin' our own business when we were just walkin' past the guy and some hot chick with him and he attacked us for no god damn reason. I was lucky to just walk away with some aches and bruises, but most o' my friends needed to be in the hospital for a few days and one o' them was so badly hurt he needed blood transfusions from being nearly drained. He's lucky to even be alive now, but he's so paranoid now he wants to stay in the prison hospital forever convince Dracula will come back for the rest of his blood. You can even still see the puncture scars on my poor bud's neck."

Jason gave worriedly tense glances to his friends at what they were just told, but Stewart looked at the man with something more than just worry as he asked hard, "You mentioned he was with a woman, what did she look like?"

"I don't remember," the man shrugged as he gulped the last of his drink, "It was pretty dark and it happened so fast."

"Tell me what you do remember, and I'll buy you another drink." Stewart's tone was rock hard, but he needed the man's cooperation.

"Hot, like I said," he shrugged, "Brown or black hair, I'm not really sure, but it was dark and nice and soft. She wore a kinky pink dress, and when I tried to grab her to get her out of the way she proved she was no helpless whore, she was tough as she kicked me in the nuts and stepped on my foot so hard I had a limp for a week."

Before Jason leaped to grab and punch the guy, Stewart leaped as quick as a cat and grabbed the man by his shirt collar making him drop his drink, and growled angrily, "That woman you dare call a whore could've been _my daughter,_ and you dared to grab and rape her, you worthless cowardly son of a bitch?!"

The thug actually went wide eyed in fear as he stammered, "Whoa, man, I didn't know, I-I mean…I don't know if she was,…but-but no, no, I didn't do nothin' to her, she was a tough chick, likes I said!"

"Hey, you!" another rough voice warned, making them all look to see the bartender giving them a hard look to match Stewart's face.

"Whatever you're arguing about, take it outside or leave," he warned with clear conviction he had handled such situations before.

Stewart let the thuggish man go as he said with a low gruff, "You're not worth it, I've handled pieces of shit worse than you. Let's go."

Jason and his friends followed Stewart out after he paid for their drinks, and the thug rubbed at his collar as he chuckled low to himself, "Maybe, you stupid naïve American pig, but I doubt you've handled anything like that monster."

"What did he mean by his friend still had puncture marks on his neck?" Jason asked confused and worried.

Stewart was stone faced but seething on the inside as he led them to a waiting human taxi, finally answering as they all got in, "It just proves how even more psychotic he is, and even with human teeth if you bite hard enough into flesh it'll leave scars. Kelly can tell you stories about street thugs and the scars they got from fights she's dealt with as a police officer and the wounds she's seen."

"I remember seeing football teammates get similar bites when they got into fights with members of the opposing team in high school," Blake said.

"Oh, yeah," Jason smirked, "What a bunch of idiots."

"There's something else." Stewart glared deeply serious at the three younger men to get them to focus on the real issue. "The other night I heard he may have also endangered a child this past summer, which proves even more how mentally unstable and dangerous this man is. I don't know what else he's done, but the sooner we get Ellie out of there and back safely home, the better."

"Right," Jason concurred with a growing smirk, "and I'll be sure this time things will be different with us, I may have problems but so does she, and I'll try to listen to her more."

"Good to hear that, Jason. If there's one thing I hope we can all learn from this past year, it's listening and understanding. Driver, to Hotel Transylvania."

"I thought that place had its own taxi service," Blake stated confused, as they rode through town and shortly into the wild forest.

"It does," Stewart said, "but trust me, you don't want to ride in those crazy death traps."

Jason stared out the taxi's back seat window lost in thought, feeling as though he had landed on a completely different planet yet familiar at the same time. He remembered occasionally hiking and camping with his dad in mountainous and forested terrains, yet the scenery passing by sent a chill down his spine as though an invisible snake from an icy cavern slithered from his neck to his tail bone. The craggy forested mountains practically radiated with an ominous sinister atmosphere as daylight fluidly became night with sunset barely felt or seen as though one side of a tunnel was always daylight and the other side always night, both figuratively and literally as the taxi finally exited the camouflaged tunnel.

The majestic lone castle came into view making Jason stare up in a growing numb awe, somehow seeming more massive than the tallest skyscraper he had seen in the big city than he knew it must really be.

Something about this place didn't sit right with him.

"Why would Ellie ever want to stay at a place like this?" he asked rhetorically.

"I've asked myself the same question," Stewart sighed, "But once she sees you, she'll know coming home is the right thing to do and call off that ridiculous engagement."

"What engagement?" Jason gasped surprised, "You didn't say anything about her getting engaged!"

"It doesn't matter," Stewart dismissed, "As I said, seeing you again will make her see what's the right thing to do."

They made their way into the festively decorated lobby, Blake and Ryan giving small amazing gasps of awe as they gazed all around them while Jason's eyes almost immediately spotted the one person he had come to see, making him smile somehow both elatedly and arrogantly.

Seeing this made Stewart smile as he made his way to the reception desk to a busily working Elona as she checked in the varieties of monster and human guests spending the New Year's and/or New Fear's Eve holiday at the hotel.

"Hello, Ellie, can I talk to you for a sec?" he asked his daughter.

"After work, Dad, I'm busy," she said in a cold business like tone.

"It's okay, Elona, I can handle the rest," Mavis offered, having worked with her to check in guests, "Talk with your dad, you barely have since he got here."

Elona was reluctant as Stewart said with a smile, "C'mon, there's someone who wants to say hi to you."

As she made her way from behind the reception desk, the lobby suddenly shook with a rumble as though in the aftershock of a small earthquake to be followed by a high pitched excitable barking as Tinkles suddenly bounded down one of the flanking staircases, his wet tongue lopping about leaving trails of oozing puppy spittle, making guests scatter in a screaming chaos as the giant blue black puppy ran to and fro yapping happily and sniffing around in excitable curiosity.

"Jason, look out!" Stewart yelled as he ran to the younger men before Elona really registered what she heard at the same time younger voices shouted at Tinkles,

"Tinkles, stay!"

"Heal, boy!"

"No, don't, stop that!"

It was Dennis and Winnie, and Tinkles only stopped as Stewart came between him and the other three young men and was about to soak Stewart in a sloppy lick but just stopped as suddenly as he had appeared. Tinkles gave a low confused groan with a tilt of his head as he eyed Jason and his friends standing in numbed shock behind Stewart, his dark eyes the literal size of wagon wheels. He sniffed, literally, around them, circling them with curiosity to make them tighten in on each other as they watched the giant puppy and nearly felt his hot breath on their faces.

Returning to the front of them, Tinkles suddenly gave a low distrusting growl but a female voice yelled with authority, "Tinkles, sit!"

His giant rump thumped hard onto the stone floor and Tinkles just started panting happily again as his curly tail wagged like a propeller as Elona held his collar and waited for a zombie bellhop to hook a leash to it and a happy Dennis took Tinkles away.

While all this happened, no one really saw Dracula come out from one of the other flanking stairs and was about to yell at Tinkles just as Elona did it and just stood watching proudly. He would have flown to her side and embraced her for it, but something about the scene seemed off to him and he just stood leaning against the stone railing to watch.

Stewart was actually momentarily proud at his daughter as he took her shoulders to happily tell her, "Honey, that was impressive, I'm so proud of you. And I have a surprise for you, look who's here!"

Elona would have just shrugged it off, but she just froze with numbness as it overtook her in an eternally long moment like a bolt from the blue who now stood before her.

"Hello, Ellie, it's been a long time," Jason said with his most charming smile.

As he was no longer in the Marine Corps his auburn brown hair had grown out from a military buzz cut and his chiseled handsome face had a five o'clock shadow to it, and beneath his civilian clothes of jeans, hiking boots, college sweatshirt, and a winter jacket, he was still muscular and well built and somehow still dashing at 6 feet tall.

Their eyes locked, as though looking into each other's souls and true being, hazel brown eyes Elona knew all too well where once she had seen a strength and chivalrousness but now only saw something dark and broken.

Yet, looking into them now a mixing of old feelings welled up within her; a small sense of bittersweet happiness as she remembered the good times like karaoke every Saturday together, going to the movies or streaming them, going out to romantic restaurants, events at the Chicago Museum she used to work at, or even camping and hiking, and taking defense classes together as he taught her a few moves he learned in the Marines. Yet, a discomfort came with it as she also remembered times at the shooting range, and she had mixed feelings learning how to use a gun yet disliked what they represented as weapons in general; and with that came memories and old feelings of pain and hurt.

Over time that pain grew from confusion and self loathing, as though she wasn't good enough for Jason or even herself, for as hard as she thought she tried to be strong for him it never seemed enough as he told of his difficult experiences while deployed to somewhere in the Middle East, and while she tried to sympathize with him it just drained her more like something inside her was becoming empty and she was becoming a literal shell of a human being.

It grew further into a kind of resentment and fear of walking on eggshells or rice paper as she became unsure of whether or not his temper would flare at the smallest most insignificant things, or he questioned her love and support for him in harsh ways to border on threat of breakup and abandonment.

Finally, a small memory flared up of their last passionate night together, which now just seemed empty and hollow to her. She remembered well the physical sensations, the warmth of their bodies entwined with each other as he moved inside her. But in comparison to what she recently experienced, the memory crept across her brain like a slimy oozing shadow and at the same time made her feel dirty yet empty. Where once she thought they were sharing something special and lovely, now just seemed hollow, vapid, and pointless, and it was more like he was trying to show off and assert his dominance over her as an egocentric alpha male.

It repulsed her now.

It was slowly replaced with memories of what she now shared with her new fiancé, who in comparison showed her something transcendent, true spiritual bliss.

She had thought she had left it all behind and was ready to move on. But now, as though some force in the universe had a twisted sick sense of humor, her past had caught up with her and he stood there front of her now, all handsome and overly confident while somehow slitheringly arrogant to her.

She just looked at him with a stone cold but blank look on her face as he just smiled charmingly to her as he said softly,

"Wow, you look great, you're more beautiful than the last time I saw you."

Elona was nearly as still as a statue as Jason smiled at her and held up his arms as though to lovingly embrace her, while her hands unconsciously slowly curled tightly.

Upon the staircase, Dracula heard what Jason said with his acute hearing, and it made his stomach churn and twist upon itself as he felt the now all too familiar hot clench and growing power of his raging Hunger in combination with a burning jealousy and the snippets of growing anger and irritation he psychically sensed from Elona like needle pricks upon his mind.

Instinct urged him, demanded of him to consume this potential threat to his mate, yet he forced himself to stay in place by sheer force of will and watch what she would do. It proved difficult enough as he felt the growing pressure within himself his irises even turned a deep crimson and his claws left deep scrapes in the stone railing to just hold him in place and held in a deep growl in the back of his throat.

"I know the last time we saw each other it wasn't on the best of terms, and I was stupid and just made things more difficult, so we both made mistakes," he said apologetically, "But, I just want to talk now, try to put this whole misunderstanding beh-AAGH!"

There came a sudden crack of flesh and bone like a pop gun had gone off and Jason suddenly found his vision swimming in a darkness of reddened pain and his face suddenly ached. He momentarily held his face as he tried to fight off his muddied disoriented vision and faintly heard as though through jell-o Stewart yell,

"Elona, what the hell do you think you're doing?! Elona, get back here!"

Jason's vision cleared just enough to see Elona walking away with hardness in her step, somehow both angered and aroused by the punch and the strength behind it.

He looked at his hands to find trickles of blood on them, and he knew he might need a nose cast for a while now.

"I'm so sorry, Jason," Stewart apologized as he took out a handkerchief to clean and stop the bleeding, "That didn't go as I'd hoped, and it must be worse than I thought. But we'll worry about that later, let's get you to a doctor."

"Yeah, but in a weird way, Stew, that was kinda hot," Jason said with a smirk.

As he wiped his face with the handkerchief, he suddenly realized how quiet the lobby had gotten and everyone, monsters and people alike were staring at him with expressions he couldn't quiet place. He then happened to glance up at the staircase Dracula was watching him from, then was momentarily mystified when he was there but the next moment suddenly not there and just a puff of indigo vapor where the darkly clad guy had been.

"What is it, Jason?" Stewart asked confused as well.

"I thought I saw-," he started but just dismissed it as some trick of his mind recovering from the punch, "Nothing, never mind. I should get to that doctor."

 _Yes, that was pretty hot, and the only thing we can agree on. But it's nicest version of what you really deserve_ , Dracula thought as he watched the four humans leave from upside down in bat form.

He couldn't help feeling both proud and smug about what he just witnessed, yet also a growing craving for satisfaction for Elona's honor and irritation at his supposed future father-in-law as this was obviously his idea.

Clearly, Dracula needed to have a few words with Mr. Parker.

But for now, that will have to wait as he flew through the hotel to find Elona and make sure she was okay.


End file.
